The country’s chief negotiator for the accession, Charles Morin, said this an interview yesterday when he showed Nation a newly published booklet giving more details of what the move will entail.

The booklet is available at the WTO accession reference centre, which is managed by Samuel Chang Sam at the Seychelles Trading Company offices along Latanier Road.

Members of the public are welcome from 8am until noon to use computers at the centre to find out more about the organisation.
“The question for us is whether we continue to face the unpredictable forces of nature alone or whether we regulate our trading regime,” Mr Morin says in the booklet’s foreword.

He said the move will also ensure what we import and export is “fit for consumption”.

The WTO is the only government-to-government organisation dealing with the rules of trade between nations.

“International instruments are already in place to ensure trade produces benefits for large and small countries alike,” he said.

He gave the example of the 2002 ban on Seychelles’ swordfish, saying Seychelles argued its case largely through the international media and other channels, but if we were a member of the WTO, rules that apply to other countries would have saved us from the ban.

In 2002 the European Union issued a health warning on swordfish from Seychelles, saying it had too much cadmium, but through Reuters news agency fishermen disagreed, saying the amount found in swordfish in Seychelles’ waters was no more dangerous than that in chicken, lamb or pork from elsewhere.

“Our swordfish has between 0.3 and 0.5 parts per million (ppm) of cadmium, and therefore falls within the 1.0 ppm limit set for these other products like chicken kidneys, pork and lamb," they said.

They said the ban forced many of them to hunt for sharks instead so as to make a living.

The ban was revised after the reports were picked up in Europe.

“If we had been members of the WTO, we could simply have argued we were not getting the same treatment as the exporters of these other products,” Mr Morin said.

He said the organisation governs 97% of all world trade between its members.
Seychelles is now preparing to answer questions raised by member countries of the WTO during a meeting set for later this month in Geneva.

The organisation’s website – www.wto.org – gives up-to-date information on all its activities as well as access to its document dissemination facility featuring all its official documents.

Other online resources are e-training courses that can be taken at the reference centres, which also have all WTO publications. Seychelles joined the WTO reference centre network on June 9, 2010.

The local centre is open to government officials, academics and the general public on weekdays from 8am to noon. Enquiries relating to the WTO and Seychelles can be made to the Trade Division through email enquiry@ad.gov.sc, or by phoning 382062.