Introduction

WTO membership and Director-General Roberto Azevêdo attach great importance to post-accession implementation and support. Building on the conceptual framework developed in the Director-General's 2014 Annual Report on WTO Accessions, the Secretariat has continued to deepen its understanding on post-accession needs of future Article XII Members and its efforts to operationalise the post-accession framework, with the support of Members and acceding governments. In this regard, the first dialogue on post-accession at the Third China Round Table held in Dushanbe in May 2015 provided rich insights based on direct experiences, which helped the Secretariat to structure its post-accession support to new Article XII Members. Moreover, the recently concluded accessions of Afghanistan and Liberia with their post-accession needs already built into the accession packages provide an operational mechanism for post-accession implementation and coordination in response to the specific needs of the least-developed countries (LDCs).

The framework for WTO post-accession implementation and support is structured into four pillars, as follows:

• Best Practices on WTO Post-Accession;

• Country-Specific WTO Post-Accession Implementation Strategy for LDCs;

• Specialised Training on WTO Post-Accession for LDCs; and,

• Internal Secretariat Note on Post-Accession Implementation and Monitoring. The four pillars are complementary to each other.

The first pillar, 'Best Practices on WTO Post-Accession', whose details are contained in this Note, is aimed at assisting Acceding Governments and new Members in the transition from the accession negotiations to the membership. WTO accession is a tool for domestic reforms and integration into the rules-based global economy. Yet, WTO membership does not automatically lead to trade-related development, as the realisation of its benefits is inter-dependent with sustained domestic reforms and implementation of WTO obligations, including accession-specific commitments. The completion of an accession process does not mark an end but signals the beginning of sustained economic reforms to maximize the benefits of WTO membership and ensure global economic integration. Best practices on post-accession are drawn from the lessons learned and direct experiences of thirty-six accessions concluded to date since the establishment of the WTO since 1995.

The second pillar is the 'Country-Specific WTO Post-Accession Implementation Strategy' for LDCs. In the recently concluded accessions of Liberia and Afghanistan to the WTO, Post-Accession Implementation Strategies were prepared as integral parts of their respective Accession Packages. The WTO Secretariat developed the Strategies in consultation with the Acceding Governments, following the final Working Party meetings for Liberia in October 2015 and for Afghanistan in November 2015. The main focus of the Strategies is on the implementation of accession commitments, including notification obligations, and the identification and sequencing of specific post-accession needs for trade-related technical assistance and capacity building and infrastructural support for implementation. The Strategy contains three parts:

• Annex I: Actions and work to be undertaken to implement accession-specific commitments contained in the Accession Protocol within defined timeframes;

• Annex II: Notification requirements, contained in the WTO Agreements and the Accession Protocol, with technical assistance and capacity building needs; and,

• Annex III: Complementary actions and support, including soft and hard infrastructural support, to realize the benefits of WTO membership and integration into the global economy.

Liberia and Afghanistan presented their respective Post-Accession Implementation Strategies to bilateral and multilateral development partners, at the Post-Accession Round Tables which took place immediately following the approval of the accession packages by WTO Members at the Tenth Ministerial Conference in December 2015 in Nairobi, Kenya.

The third pillar is 'Specialised Training on Post-accession' for LDCs. The purpose of such training, which is usually held before the membership date, is to: (i) provide post-accession support for an LDC, including on the preparation of notifications and the internal coordination to implement accession commitments from Day 1 of WTO membership; (ii) develop a medium term action plan to operationalise the Post-Accession Implementation Strategy; and, (iii) facilitate the exchange of post-accession experiences and best practices among Acceding Governments and recently acceded Members. The first of such specialised post-accession training activities is delivered by the WTO Secretariat for Afghanistan and Liberia in June 2016, before their WTO membership dates. The provision of WTO Secretariat post-accession support for Pillar 2 and Pillar 3 is normally restricted to LDCs only and is in response to specific requests from acceding LDCs.

The fourth pillar is the 'Secretariat's Note on Post-Accession Implementation and Monitoring'. The Note, developed under the guidance of Deputy Director-General David P. Shark is internal to the WTO Secretariat. It aims at improving internal Secretariat coordination for monitoring and support for new Article XII Members on the implementation of their specific accession commitments/obligations. A template of the Note was first developed in early 2014, and country-specific Notes have been issued for Yemen, Seychelles and Kazakhstan, generally on the membership date.