Nepal, WTO membership and challenges

Nepal’s fate in the WTO will depend on its trade efficiency and policy.

Nepal’s membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO), a multilateral trading system, marked 20 years in April 2024. After 14 years of an arduous accession process that began in 1989, the fifth WTO Ministerial Meeting in 2003 approved Nepal's membership, and the country formally joined the organisation in April 2004 after the government ratified it.