Geneva, Switzerland – On March 14th, 2012 Ambassador Michael Punke, Deputy U.S. Trade Representative and U.S. Permanent Representative to the World Trade Organization and Dr. Nam Viyaketh, Minister of Industry and Commerce of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, signed a WTO bilateral market access agreement as part of Lao PDR’s negotiations to join the World Trade Organization (WTO). The agreement reflects the industrial goods, agricultural goods, and services market access commitments that are to be a part of Lao PDR’s market access schedules when it becomes a Member of the WTO. This agreement is an important step forward in Lao PDR’s WTO accession process. The United States has a strong bilateral relationship with Lao PDR under an existing bilateral trade agreement, and firmly supports Lao PDR’s efforts to accede to the WTO. The United States provides extensive technical assistance through USAID to support Lao PDR’s WTO accession and economic reforms. Adoption of WTO provisions builds strong economic institutions that have a long term positive impact on trade, economic growth and domestic development, and the process of WTO accession helps facilitate the reforms necessary to enhance economic growth and development. Lao PDR is a least developed country (LDC) accession candidate to the World Trade Organization (WTO).