Afghanistan becomes 163rd member of WTO

World Trade Organisation (WTO) on 17 December 2015 unanimously approved Afghanistan’s WTO membership at the WTO’s Tenth Ministerial Conference (MC10) in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. With this, Afghanistan will become 163rd member nation of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), global trade body after 11 years of negotiations. In this regard, Protocol of Accession (PoA) was signed by WTO Director General Roberto Azevedo and Afghanistan’s First Deputy Chief Executive Mohammad Khan Rahmani.
The final accession to become a full member will come in to effect after PoA is ratified by Afghanistan Parliament till June 2015. It will be the 36th least developed country (LDC) to join the global trade body.
Advantages for Afghanistan 

• By joining WTO, landlocked war-shattered Afghanistan hopes to reap the benefits of the WTO membership for its post-conflict reconstruction.

• Trade-led growth will help to create new economic opportunities in world’s poorest economy and create jobs especially for women and in turn help to reduce poverty.
• Post-conflict reconstruction will certainly contribute in a major way to reduce extremism and achieve regional peace and security.

About World Trade Organization (WTO)

• World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization which regulates international trade. 
• The WTO officially commenced on 1 January 1995 under the Marrakesh Agreement, signed by 123 nations on 15 April 1994, replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which commenced in 1948.
• Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland
• Membership: 163
• Official language: English, French, Spanish.