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    • Devex Impact
    • Aid for trade

    Aid and trade: Afghanistan's long road to WTO accession

    Afghanistan is set to formally join the World Trade Organization in June. The long road to WTO membership has depended on the development community and will need more support as it aims to participate more fully in the global economy.

    By Naki B. Mendoza // 15 February 2016

    Afghanistan may appear to many to be an unlikely candidate for a group whose mission is to boost global growth through trade. War-torn for the last 15 years, and embroiled in conflict for much of the past three decades, the country is deeply impoverished and depends largely on foreign aid and illicit industries to prop up its fledgling economy. Yet in December 2015 the South Asian country was granted full approval to join the World Trade Organization.

    Its official membership into the free trade bloc is still subject to certain domestic government approvals but having been voted in at the WTO’s 10th Ministerial Conference in Kenya, Afghanistan is set to become just the ninth least developed country and one of the poorest ever to join the World Trade Organization. Its inclusion raises many questions and even a few perplexities about the investment case for a conflict zone and the role that the development industry can play to support a trade-led economic growth strategy.

    Devex spoke with Abdul Safir Sahar, an expert on Afghanistan’s trade and customs issues with Chemonics International, to provide context and insight to the issue. Sahar is based in Kabul and was an adviser to the “Trade and Accession Facilitation for Afghanistan” process, a U.S. Agency for International Development-led initiative for business and legislative reforms to support Afghanistan’s WTO application.

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    About the author

    • Naki B. Mendoza

      Naki B. Mendozamfbmendoza

      Naki is a former reporter, he covered the intersection of business and international development. Prior to Devex he was a Latin America reporter for Energy Intelligence covering corporate investments and political risks in the region’s energy sector. His previous assignments abroad have posted him throughout Europe, South America, and Australia.

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