Brussels, 11/12/2002 (Agence Europe) - Welcoming the decision to integrate Armenia, a decision taken on Tuesday by the World Trade Organisation, European Commissioner Pascal Lamy congratulated this country for the "remarkable determination" it has shown over recent months and, more particularly, for the "significant effort made to complete alignment of its legislation on multilateral rules". He considers that the commitments taken by Armenia with a view to its membership are on the whole balanced and come within the country's economic capacity. He also feels that the country is now even able to take advantage of the world trading system while facilitating the consolidation of reforms already undertaken in the context of the partnership agreement with the EU. Mr Lamy sees this new accession, which brings the number of WTO members to 146, as an obvious sign that a new country has chosen the road of trade and development to meet the expectations of its citizens. "We hope this will serve as an encouraging example for all the other countries currently beginning the accession process", he said.
The same day, the General Council of the institution adopted simplified and accelerated procedure for the integration of new members that belong to the group of least developed countries.