Geneva — Ambassador Omar Zniber, Permanent Representative of Morocco in Geneva, in his capacity as Chairman of the working group on the accession of the Union of Comoros to the World Trade Organization (WTO), chaired, on Thursday, the eighth meeting of the said group.

The meeting was marked by a large participation of WTO member states and the presence of a large Comorian delegation led by Minister of Economy, Industry, Investments, in charge of Economic Integration, Ahmed Ali Bazi, accompanied by the vice president of the National Assembly, the secretary general of the Ministry of Economy as well as several other directors and senior officials representing the Departments concerned by the accession file.

During the meeting, Zniber praised the work done by Comoros since the 7th meeting of the group, held last May, to complete their bilateral negotiations with WTO member states, which were crowned by the signing of 7 bilateral protocols for access to the market of goods and services with the United States, the European Union (EU), India, Brazil, Canada, Japan and the Sultanate of Oman.

He also recalled that the accession of Comoros to the WTO before the end of this year has become more feasible than ever, reiterating his call to delegations to show more flexibility so that this accession process is completed in time.

For his part, the Comorian minister praised the role of Morocco and the efforts of the chairmanship of the accession group and the WTO Secretariat, detailing the actions undertaken by the Comorian authorities on the legislative, administrative and technical levels, in order to comply with the requirements of the Marrakech agreements establishing the WTO.