US experts due in Yemen for WTO accession talks

SANA'A, June 07 (Saba) – A US expert team is to arrive in Yemen on
June 12 for a week-long visit which comes within the US assistance
for Yemen's accession into the World Trade Organization.

The visit will evaluate the situation at the customs authority, the
Yemen Standardization, Metrology and Quality Control Organization
(YSMO) and the ministry of Agriculture, in an attempt to familiarize
with their technical needs to implement the WTO accords.

The team, from a US consulting company, will hold meetings with
Yemeni officials at the relevant authorities over steps Yemen has
taken to join the WTO.

The talks will focus WTO Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Agreement
and The WTO agreement on customs valuation.

Yemen submitted a request for joining the organization in 2000, and
then the WTO General Council established a working party to examine
the request.

The Memorandum on the Foreign Trade Regime was circulated in
November 2002, and the first meeting of the Working Party took place
in November 2004.

An Elements of a draft Report (a detailed document summarizing
discussions in the Working Party) was circulated in September 2008.

Bilateral market access negotiations are underway on the basis of
revised offers in goods and services. The fifth meeting of the
Working Party took place in October 2008.