Map: Yemen Joins WTO

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Member and observer states of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Map by Evan Centanni, starting from public domain blank map (license: CC BY-NC-SA).

By Caleb Centanni 

World Trade Organization Admits Yemen 

The World Trade Organization (WTO), a global organization founded in 1995 to promote the management and expansion of international trade, added Yemen as a new member in late June. This comes after the admission of four new members in 2012, and two more in early 2013.

Organization Name:   • World Trade Organization (English) • Organisation mondiale du commerce (French) • Organización Mundial del Comercio (Spanish) Founded: 1994 in Marrakech, Morocco (commenced in 1995) Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland Website: www.wto.org

Yemen, located on the southern Arabian Peninsula, was approved for membership last October at the Ninth Ministerial Conference of the WTO in Bali, Indonesia. The nation officially became a member on June 26, 2014, placing the entire peninsula under the organization’s representation. Yemen’s admission comes despite recent political turmoil in the country, including an Arab Spring uprising and rebel control of large areas of its territory. Yemen is the seventh least developed member country according to the WTO.

According to the WTO, 97.1% of the world economy now falls under the body's jurisdiction, and this newest accession brings the organization’s membership to 160. Of the 195 UN-recognized countries in the world, 156 (exactly 80%) are members of the WTO. Another four members are not UN-recognized nations: the Chinese administered territories of Hong Kong and Macau, the European Union, and the disputed state of Taiwan, which participates under the name “Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu (Chinese Taipei)”.  

There are also 24 WTO “observers”, states that are partially included in the organization and have applied for membership (excepting the Holy See, which does not plan to apply). There are only 14 UN members which are neither members nor observers of the WTO.

WTO logo is displayed without permission, based on fair use principles (source).