The event was attended by several WTO members, observers and development partners, including China, the European Union, the Lebanese Republic, Morocco, the United States, Tunisia, the Enhanced Integrated Framework, the International Trade Centre and the Islamic Development Bank.

Building on discussions in January 2022 during a technical assistance round table, and in April 2023 during a meeting of the Coordination Group on Accessions-related Technical Assistance, this post-accession round table highlighted the challenges of implementing WTO commitments and the important role that technical assistance and capacity building play in addressing them.

Mr. Ryad Mezzour, Minister of Industry and Trade of Morocco, stressed the importance of Comoros' accession to the WTO, paving the way for a wider integration of Arab and African countries in the global trading system. He also expressed readiness in providing support in the post-accession phase to ensure that Comoros could participate in and benefit from the multilateral trading system.

“The accession of Comoros to the WTO will have positive impacts on its socioeconomic development and will make it possible to consolidate the African and Arab presence within this international forum,” he said, adding that “Morocco stands alongside Comoros in sharing experiences, good practices and capacity building in the implementation of commitments made under the Marrakesh Agreement.”

WTO Deputy Director-General Zhang Xiangchen expressed the WTO's full support for Comoros, underlining the importance of providing technical assistance to least-developed countries and fragile and conflict-affected states, given the challenges they face.

“While the accession process is a training ground for future WTO members, the reality of assuming the responsibilities of membership can be challenging. This is particularly true for least-developed countries, which typically have limited administrative and institutional capacity,” he said. “Comoros would need as much support in the post-accession phase as during accession.”

DDG Zhang commended Comoros for the impressive amount of work done during its accession process, but also underlined that there was unfinished business, including in the areas of other duties and charges, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, technical barriers to trade and trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights, where Comoros agreed to transition periods during its accession negotiations. In addition to this, the Government in Moroni is also expected to submit a full set of notifications upon accession.

Mr. Ahmed Ali Bazi, Minister of Economy, Industry and Investment and Chief Negotiator for the Accession of Comoros, noted that WTO accession marked the first step in a broader, more ambitious strategy to maximize the benefits of membership, and that more technical assistance and capacity building would be required to achieve the goal of making Comoros an emerging economy by 2030.

“We now have a specific strategy for the post-accession phase to enable us to implement the commitments undertaken during our negotiations and to initiate the remaining reforms as part of our legislative action plan and our compliance obligations under the WTO agreements”, he said.

These statements were followed by a presentation detailing the WTO post-accession strategy of Comoros. The presentation focused on four key components: post-accession commitments and obligations on trade in goods; post-accession obligations under the schedule of specific commitments relating to trade in services; notification obligations; and implementation and monitoring of the post-accession strategic plan.

WTO members and development partners praised the significant efforts made by Comoros in its accession process and highlighted the role of tailored technical assistance and capacity building in supporting effective WTO participation. They also reiterated the need for ongoing support to new members like Comoros to ensure they can fully implement their post-accession commitments and fully integrate into the multilateral trading system.