Thirty years of WTO accessions

Since its establishment on 1 January 1995 to oversee the multilateral trade agreements negotiated by its 128 original members, the WTO has seen an ongoing expansion of its membership and continued interest from many economies seeking to join the organization. As a result, the percentage of world trade accounted for by WTO members has risen from 87 per cent in 1995 to over 98 per cent today.

Over the past 30 years, 60 countries and customs territories have applied for accession to the WTO. Of these, 38 have completed the process, bringing the WTO's total membership to 166. Meanwhile, 22 economies are currently at various stages of negotiating their accession.

Although those seeking to join the WTO have followed similar paths of economic reform, WTO accession processes have varied significantly. Some completed the process relatively quickly – for example, after just three to four years of negotiations, the Kyrgyz Republic and Oman joined the WTO, in 1998 and in 2000, respectively. Others, such as Kazakhstan and Seychelles, spent nearly two decades in accession talks before becoming members, both in 2015. These longer timelines reflect the evolving nature of the accession process.

Unlike accessions in the era of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), WTO accessions require far-reaching structural reforms that go well beyond traditional trade-opening, often encompassing multiple sectors of the acceding economy. Moreover, the process demands a thorough understanding of the applicant's economic systems, policy frameworks and reform priorities, which must be underpinned by broad-based domestic consensus.

Why, then, do governments choose to undertake the rigorous demands of WTO accession? For many, the answer lies in a desire to modernize institutions and regulatory practices, enhance the business environment and attract foreign direct investment. These motivations often go hand-in-hand with broader national goals, including market-oriented reforms, poverty reduction and sustainable development.

Market-opening and structural reforms, for instance, have been central to the evolution of many economies. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia in 1991, international trade played a pivotal role in transforming the economies of the newly independent states and in strengthening their ties with the global economy. WTO membership served as a powerful vehicle for the modernization of these economies, as well as of other formerly centrally planned economies, such as China and Viet Nam.

In addition, least-developed countries (LDCs), beginning with Cambodia and Nepal in 2004, and most recently Comoros and Timor-Leste in 2024 – making a total of 11 LDC accessions to date – have used the accession process to lay the foundations for poverty reduction and sustainable economic growth.

In the cases of Cabo Verde, Samoa and Vanuatu, WTO membership was soon followed by graduation from LDC status (in 2008, 2014 and 2020, respectively). For others, including the Lao People's Democratic Republic, Nepal and Cambodia, graduation is expected before the end of this decade.

As many LDCs began their accession processes while classified as "fragile and conflict-affected states", WTO membership has also played an important role in reshaping perceptions of their economic and development potential.

Recently, WTO economists quantified the economic impact of undertaking the robust commitments required for WTO accession. Their analysis found that economies implementing reforms and making deeper commitments during accession negotiations grew an average of 1.5 percentage points faster than they otherwise would have done. A review of both completed and ongoing accessions underscores that the WTO accession process serves as a catalyst for domestic reform, helping to create an enabling environment for economic resilience and sustainable growth.

In the same way that WTO accessions have anchored domestic transformations, accessions have also benefitted the global trading system. Through accessions, the percentage of world trade accounted for by WTO members has risen from 87 per cent in 1995 to over 98 per cent today.

Despite the proliferation of free trade agreements and the sharp rise in tariff barriers, the vast majority of this trade – still more than 70 per cent – continues to be conducted under the WTO's most-favoured-nation (MFN) principles. This has promoted the integration of global supply chains and, in so doing, has lowered trading costs for all WTO members.

The scope of the WTO can also be measured in terms of population. At the time when the WTO was established, the original members represented just 69 per cent of the world's population. Today, thanks to the accession of new members, that share has risen to 94 per cent. In other words, over the past 30 years, the WTO has extended its reach to an additional 2 billion people – further strengthening the inclusiveness and global relevance of the multilateral trading system.

Beyond their individual reforms, economies that have joined the WTO since 1995 have made substantial systemic contributions to the WTO. Each accession prompts existing members to reflect on how best to uphold and advance the WTO's core values. As a result, accessions have repeatedly helped to deepen, clarify and modernize existing disciplines.

Collectively, acceded members have added more than 1,500 legally binding commitments to the WTO rulebook. These commitments – coupled with guarantees for deeper access to their domestic markets for goods and services – have made the WTO stronger, more dynamic and more responsive to evolving global trade realities.

In key areas, such as domestic support in agriculture and the regulation of state-owned enterprises, members who have joined over the past 30 years have often taken on more comprehensive and detailed commitments, reflecting an evolution of obligations in relation to existing WTO norms. In several areas – notably trade facilitation, tariff rate quotas and export subsidies – accession negotiations have also achieved concrete results years before the emergence of multilateral trade disciplines, demonstrating the forward-looking nature of the accession process.

In the area of transparency alone, acceded members have adopted over 250 specific commitments. Some of these members could even be considered to be "transparency champions", given that they have submitted extensive notifications to the WTO about their trade measures – including in areas where original members have been less forthcoming, or where multilateral disciplines do not yet exist, such as the notification of privatization programmes.

Today, 30 years after the establishment of the WTO, acceded members account for more than one-fifth of its total membership. Accessions are a force for change – driving re-examinations of the WTO rulebook, steering the trading system away from complacency, and challenging original members to match the benchmarks set by the newer members. This has been especially relevant in recent years, as the multilateral trading system has been facing mounting pressure.
Acceding members offer a source of hope for the future of the trading system. Even amid global uncertainty and growing challenges, many of them have remained actively engaged, recognizing that no economy's prosperity is secure in isolation, however large or small that economy might be.

The admission of new members has been a true success story, but work on WTO accessions is far from complete. Twenty-two governments – a diverse group, whose future membership will further enrich the WTO – remain in the process of accession.

As an institution, the WTO will try to support these governments by providing targeted technical assistance and capacity-building. As always, a key area of focus will be the accession of the remaining LDCs, all of which are also classified as fragile and conflict-affected states. Supporting these countries in their WTO accession processes, through dedicated programmes and tailored approaches, can serve as a catalyst for economic reform, institution-building and integration into the global trading system. Over time, this can also help to foster lasting stability and peace and to establish a gradual pathway out of fragility and toward greater resilience.

Over the years, it has become increasingly clear that integration into the multilateral trading system does not end on the date of an economy's accession. Indeed, the immediate post-accession period presents a distinct set of challenges – particularly for governments with limited institutional and administrative capacity.

While the WTO recognizes the need for sustained support during this critical phase – when newly acceded members are often required to implement further domestic reforms to fulfil their WTO commitments – it has yet to develop robust institutional mechanisms to provide targeted support during this period. There is scope for improvement in this area, and especially in supporting the effective integration of recently acceded LDCs.

Thirty years since the establishment of the WTO, accessions continue to renew and enrich the organization. As new members continue to bring fresh perspectives and commitment to the multilateral trading system, WTO accessions will remain a powerful force for reform, international cooperation and global economic integration.