The session, which opened on Tuesday at Care House in Victoria, was aimed to give background and technical advice to help Seychelles draw up the required list of goods for which trade tariffs will apply.

Through presentations and simulation exercises, the workshop aimed to cover various topics such as goods scheduling, bilateral market access negotiations in goods, and the accession packages of members who have recently joined the WTO.
 
Two WTO representatives – Jurgen Richtering and Sajal Mathur – are helping the Seychelles authorities, through the Ministry of Finance, in this process and are also giving information about their organisation to the various departments taking part.

These include the Seychelles Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Customs Division, Seychelles Agricultural Agency, Seychelles Bureau of Standards, Small Enterprise Promotion Agency and Seychelles Fishing Authority.

Launching the seminar, Charles Morin – chief negotiator for the WTO accession – said the goods schedule is an essential part of the process to join.

“Tariff binding is a pillar of the multilateral trading system and it must be noted that all member states of the WTO have bound their tariffs, referred to as trades tax in Seychelles, to a certain degree,” he said.

As they work to prepare the country’s draft goods offer, they need to look at each economic sector’s long-term development goals, he said, but the task is complicated by the fact that Seychelles is undergoing structural tax reform as part of the International Monetary Fund programme.

“We are confident, however, that we will be able to draft this goods offer by the fourth quarter of this year,” he said.
“The document will be the fruit of cooperation between all agencies of government and the private sector, a key element in completing the accession process.”

Mr Morin said he expects Seychelles to have joined the WTO by 2014. 

Forrás: http://www.nation.sc/index.php?art=18734