Seychelles becomes full-fledged member of world trade body |29 April 2015

Seychelles on Monday marked the first day of officially becoming a full-fledged member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) after the 30 days countdown to its membership became effective on Sunday.

It is to be recalled that Seychelles applied for WTO membership in May 1995 but it completed its long application process in October last year.

On March 25 this year President James Michel signed the Instrument of Acceptance of the Accession Protocol confirming its membership terms during a plenary meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers and this was after the National Assembly had the day before unanimously ratified Seychelles WTO Protocol of Accession.

In a meeting with the press on Monday afternoon the Minister for Finance, Trade and the Blue Economy, Jean-Paul Adam, and the chief negotiator for Seychelles accession to the WTO, Charles Morin, talked about the benefits of being a member of the world trade body.

“It is a historic moment for Seychelles and we are entering the WTO on the basis of our current commitments. We will get better access to international markets, we will have a seat at the highest table where we will be in a better position to defend our position and make sure the voice of Seychelles is heard at yet another important international forum,” Minister Adam explained.

Minister Adam stressed that as a small island state with limited resources we are aware that it is essential to have access to international trade markets for goods and services and that this is our priority.

“There is no better way to address those issues and ensure proper access to those international markets than by being a member of the largest world trade body which is the WTO,” Minister Adam pointed out.

He highlighted the fact that Seychelles has gone through a somewhat difficult path to access the WTO linked to the 2008 economic reform programme which in the end resulted in a strong and resilient economy.

Furthermore Minister Adam stressed that becoming a member of the WTO has its challenges but more importantly more opportunities for local products and businesses.    

For his part Mr Morin said a lot of consultations were held locally with different sectors namely small businesses, chamber of commerce, agriculture and fisheries, tourism, education, health and the financial services sector among others prior to negotiations with the WTO members.

“They put forward their concerns and stressed on the level of protection they wanted us to negotiate for them,” Mr Morin pointed out, noting that any issues that need to be addressed will be taken up by our representative in Geneva.  

Meanwhile Minister Adam explained that local institutions and regulations have been and will continuously be reinforced in line with WTO requirements.