Brussels, 18/07/2000 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has welcomed Croatia and Albania's accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The newcomers also stress their "commitment to playing their role to the full within the international economic community", Pascal Lamy, Commissioner responsible for the common trade policy, was pleased to observe.
The Commission recalls that Croatia has undertaken important commitments similar to those of other developed WTO members, ensuring in exchange better access into existing WTO members' markets, notably the Union. In particular, the Commission considers that, with its accession "at the end of hard and steady work carried out by the Government", Albania has demonstrated its "readiness to adopt and apply all the relevant WTO Agreements and undertake a process of liberalisation and modernisation of its economic legislation that will certainly bear fruits in the near future".