EU-AFGHANISTAN AGREEMENT ON WTO MEMBERSHIP.

The European Union and Afghanistan signed, on 10 February, an agreement that concludes their bilateral negotiations on this country's accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Geneva. Membership of the WTO is expected to make a lasting contribution to the process of stabilisation, economic reform and sustainable development in Afghanistan. The bilateral deal, signed by EU Ambassador Angelos Pangratis and Afghanistan's Deputy Minister for Trade Mozammil Shinwari, provides for lower tariffs and export duties for goods and for opening up services markets once Afghanistan joins the WTO. These commitments will then be...