Timor-Leste and WTO Accession : Harnessing Momentum to Support Development Outcomes (English)

World Trade Organization (WTO) accession is a challenging process typically commanding a heavy price in terms of resources and time expended while also calling for the expense of non-trivial political capital by an acceding country's policymakers. Nevertheless, gaining membership of the world trade body represents a once in a generation opportunity for acceding countries to embark upon and sustain a set of deep structural reforms seldom possible in the absence of binding policy commitments. Timor-Leste is a young nation facing a set of unique challenges as it nears the completion of its WTO accession process. While WTO and subsequently Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) accession can help Timor-Leste address and overcome many of the above challenges, neither of these outcomes can - nor should be expected to - produce miracles by themselves. This report considers the case for Timor-Leste to bring its quest for WTO accession to a successful conclusion. It advances a set of arguments designed to help the country's policymakers in their dialogue with domestic stakeholders and constituents of the benefits that the Timorese economy and its citizens stand to derive from placing the country's trade ties to the world market on a stable and predictable global footing. This report is divided into three parts. Part 1 offers a brief overview of Timor-Leste's recent trade performance and the overall macro-economic context within which the country's quest for WTO accession takes place. Part 2 provides an overview of the WTO accession process and its legal and institutional implications for Timor-Leste. Part 3 of the report focuses on WTO accession and how it can be leveraged to achieve long-run economic growth. The report concludes with a call for Timor-Leste to maintain the strong existing momentum of its accession journey while also managing expectations of the short-term impacts of WTO accession.