Montenegro to become formal WTO member soon

Geneva, Switzerland (5 November 2011) – Montenegro has met all the prerequisites to join the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Economy Minister Vladimir Kavarić said at today’s meeting of the Working Group for Montenegro’s accession to WTO. Accordingly, Montenegro has become the “de-facto” WTO member state, which is to be formally confirmed at the ministerial conference on 15-17 December 2011, in Geneva, he added.

By confirming the compliance of Montenegro’s legislation with the WTO rules, the Working Group recognised the efforts the Montenegrin Government has been pursuing regarding one of the country’s key foreign policy objectives, Minister Katnić stressed.

He reiterated that Montenegro applied for WTO membership in December 2004, but although it was expected to join WTO in February 2009, Ukraine delayed its accession by submitting additional requests.

In the meantime, Montenegro signed market access bilateral agreements with the EU, the USA, China, Norway, Switzerland, Japan, Brazil, Canada, Salvador and El Honduras. After almost three years of negotiations, Montenegro closed the bilateral negotiations with Ukraine on 18 November 2011.

“Montenegro’s accession to the WTO is of great significance from the standpoint of its EU membership aspirations since only as a WTO member state can it seriously start thinking of opening negotiations with the EU. This is important in the terms of some broader political processes in Montenegro, in particular in terms of Government’s European and Euro-Atlantic bid which is supported by the international community. This is essentially the most important contribution of Montenegro’s accession to the WTO,” said Andrej Logar, the Working Group's Chairman.

During the negotiations, Montenegro has proved to be an extremely competent partner, Mr Logar remarked, adding that it completed complex negotiations in a difficult financial situation, recalling of the fact that, for instance, it took Slovenia seven and Russian Federation 18 years of negotiations to join the WTO.

The WTO membership is one of the key steps towards the country’s integration into modern international economic partnerships. The membership also sends a positive signal that Montenegro respects internationally accepted rules, therefore providing an additional incentive for attracting foreign investors.