The 2004 WTO accession of Cambodia: Negotiating priorities and experience – growth and integration eleven years later

Cambodia was the first least-developed country to complete negotiations to become a member of the WTO. Its negotiations took place in the context of the Decision on LDC accessions taken by the WTO General Council in December 2002, in which WTO members agreed that they would be bound by certain restraints in dealing with LDCs seeking to join the WTO. Given the constraints that, as an LDC, it faced when entering the negotiations, Cambodia recognised that joining the WTO could play an important part in accelerating its growth and development. This chapter describes Cambodia’s approach to the accession negotiations: its negotiating strategy, the negotiations themselves and their outcome and Cambodia’s post-accession activities. The foundation of all international trading arrangements is the WTO, its concepts and its rules, most of which are carried over into preferential trading arrangements. Being a member of the WTO provides a member’s traders with the transparent and predictable trading environment that they need to prosper. It can truly be said that being a WTO member is one of the main pillars of Cambodia’s successful economic performance.