Dili, 11, June 2026-
The coordinating minister for Economic Affairs (MCAE), through the office of the General Coordinator, in Partnership with the Strategy Unit for Economic Integration (SUEI), conducted international cooperation with the Secretariat of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva to hold a National Workshop on WTO Notifications. The activity held at the Dili Convention Centre (CCD) during four (4) days. The workshop’s objective also encompassed Trade Remedy mechanisms, thereby enabling Timor-Leste to achieve significant progress in its WTO integration process.
This workshop represents a significant milestone in renewing and strengthening Timor-Leste’s adherence to international market access standards and trade facilitation measures. This intensive activity also capacitated national and technical officials from line ministries with the technical knowledge competencies needed to manage complex transparency and notification protocols. The sessions focused primarily on market access notifications, guiding technical teams through the legal requirements and online platforms necessary to fulfil post-accession obligations, following Timor-Leste’s historic entry into the WTO.
As part of its post-accession commitments, the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Forestry (MALFF) has also taken steps to improve its reporting framework to comply with the mandatory Agricultural Notifications from the WTO. At the same time, the Government of Timor-Leste is rapidly building its development base for trade defence to protect domestic industries from unfair global trade practices. Through MCAE, the state has now integrated WTO-compliant Trade Remedies into its post-accession strategy, operationalizing the approved National Decree-Law on Trade Remedy Measures. Mechanism creates a legal safety net as the local market opens to regional and global competition.
In the same occasion, the representative from the Office of the Minister Coordinator for Economic Affairs, through the Coordinator of the Integrated Economic Integration Strategy Unit (SUEI), Mr. Leonito Soares, Commended the technical team for their exceptional dedication throughout the workshop process. Mr.Leonito emphasized that, “Maintaining these notifications on time is absolutely critical to uphold Timor-Leste’s credibility in the global trading system.” He also emphasized that these guidelines have great significance in increasing national understanding of the WTO, its agreements and annexes, aswell as the important role that notifications assume in ensuring transparency and the functioning of the multilateral trading system.
At the closing ceremony of the National Workshop on WTO Notifications, the 4-days activity held at the Dili Convention Centre (CCD) included an intensive evaluation by the WTO international facilitator, Mr. Ali. He delivered his closing remarks to the participants “I hope this was useful for all of you and that we can already see some progress on the notifications, because you also recognize that although many areas are still empty on the website, these notifications are not something difficult to do and the materials are already prepared . If you have any questions at all, please don’t hesitate to contact us, we are still here ready to help you.” Mr. Ali also commended the Timorese technical team for their steadfast dedication and commitment of time.