Wall Street Journal | Dow Jones Newswires | November 15, 2001
TAIPEI -- Taiwan's Legislative Yuan ratified Friday the World Trade Organization agreement that will allow the island to become the 144th member of the global trade body.
The ratification was approved by lawmakers - who are on break this month ahead of the Dec. 1 legislative polls - who convened for a special session Friday.
Officials said this will enable the island to become a member of the free trade body by January 1.
At a special session, the Legislature approved documents and agreements adopted at a Sunday WTO meeting in Doha, Qatar that approved the island's accession into the body that sets rules on global trade.
Earlier this month, Taiwanese lawmakers passed 14 measures, which included legislation involving tariffs, accounting regulations and a bill that would open the legal profession to foreign lawyers.
Taiwan has committed to making major reductions in import tariffs - by 35.6% on agricultural products and by 31.2% on industrial goods.
Much of the reduction will be made immediately, with the rest of the changes coming by 2004. In the automobile sector, Taiwan will reduce tariffs by 17.5% within nine years of joining.
Taiwan has spent the last 11 years campaigning to join the trade body.
The WTO approved Taiwan's entry one day after it approved China's bid to join. The trade body could provide a forum for the two longtime rivals to discuss expanding trade ties and resolve any trade disputes.Wall Street Journal:
