Armenia’s WTO Accession

In 1992 Armenia applied to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) for acquiring a status of observer. By the end of 1993 the application of the Government of Armenia was presented for accession to GATT. On 17 December 1993 the GATT Council established a Working Party to examine the application. The works on accession began early in autumn of 1994.

Upon establishment of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1995, the Government of Armenia applied for accession to the Agreement Establishing the WTO pursuant to Article XII of the WTO Agreement.

In May 1995 the Memorandum on the Foreign Trade Policy Regime of the Republic of Armenia was presented to the Secretariat of WTO.

The WTO Accession Working Party of Armenia held its first meeting in Geneva on 23-24 January 1996.

The Working Party met on 24 January and 23-24 September 1996, 14 May 1997, 24 June 1999 and 21 November 2002 under the Chairmanship of H.E. AMB. D. Kenyon (Australia).

In addition to the multilateral negotiations conducted through the Working Party process between 1995 and 2002, Armenia concluded direct bilateral negotiations with 15 WTO member states.

On November 21, 2002 the Working Party approved the Report on the Accession of Armenia and referred Armenia’s application to the General Council of the WTO.

On December 10, 2002, the General Council approved Armenia’s application to join the WTO.

Armenia officially became the 145th member of the WTO on February 5, 2003.