ACCESSION OF BULGARIA AND PANAMA TO WTO CLEARED

10:56 AM Oct 3, 1996

ACCESSION OF BULGARIA AND PANAMA TO WTO CLEARED
Geneva 2 Oct (TWN) -- The General Council of the World Trade Organization accepted Wednesday the reports of its Working Parties

Bulgaria will be the first European economy in transition to the market whose accession has been cleared. Bulgarians negotiations began in November 1986, soon after the Uruguay Round was launched, but the process has been completed only now.

The Bulgarian delegation has signed the protocol of accession, and the protocol is to be deposited with the WTO after it is ratified by Bulgaria. Thirty days thereafter Bulgaria will become a member.

Unlike in the case of Mongolia, where the US (after negotiating and getting trade concessions) excluded that country from benefits including MFN treatment, in the case of Bulgaria, US President Bill Clinton earlier issued a proclamation waiving the legal requirements and extending MFN treatment to Bulgaria.

Panama's working party was set up in 1991, and work on it has been completed just now and the report was accepted by the General Council on Wednesday.

The Panamanian accession will also take effect thirty days after that country deposits its ratification of the protocol of accession. With Panama's accession, countries in the entire Latin American region would be members of the WTO.

The Council also set up a working party, to be chaired by Amb. Munir Akram of Pakistan, to consider the request for accession from Oman.

There are now 123 countries members of the WTO. Two more Chad and Gambia are due to become members (through their own accession process) respectively on 19 and 23 October.

The General Council also heard progress reports Wednesday on the preparations for the Singapore Ministerial Conference, from the chairs of the Councils on Goods, Services and Trips, as also from the Director-General, Mr. Renato Ruggiero, who is heading an informal process on a Declaration and the new issues. Ruggiero was circulating a draft outline of the proposed ministerial declaration which is to be considered at informal heads of delegations meeting on 7 October.

The Council was also advised that as per an earlier decision (in July) on NGO participation at the SMC (NGOs would be allowed to attend the plenary meetings where speeches will be delivered), the secretariat has scrutinised some 110 NGOs to whom registration forms have been sent.

The Chairman of the Council, Amb. William Rossier of Switzerland suggested that if there was no objection by Friday, the list of NGOs circulated to the members could be approved.

However, a number of delegations (including Mexico, South Korea, India, Morocco, Pakistan, Singapore and Venezuela) expressed their 'concern' at the procedure (for approving the list) as also the selection procedure used on which, they complained, they had not been consulted. The members were being given only 48 hours to vet the list and this was not acceptable. Other comments noted that the list seemed to contain the national affiliated members of some organizations (such as Friends of the Earth), thus swelling the list. Rossier is to hold further consultations.