Tonga's Ministry of Labour, Commerce and Industries will hold a series of WTO consultative workshops, starting next month to inform Tongans about new trade terms and tax reform that is being put into place.

Paulo, the Secretary for the Ministry of Labour, Commerce and Industries said that the objective of these public workshops is to inform people on some of the trading terms that Tonga will abide by once it becomes a member of the World Trade Organisation, (WTO) in July next year.

He said that the workshop will focus on packages of trade goods, and services, and there will also be a session on tax reform packages to be conducted by someone from the Ministry of Finance.

Tonga's accession to the WTO has been deferred from the end of July this year to July 2007.

The Tongan Prime Minister, Dr Feleti Sevele announced early this month that Tonga had deferred its accession to the WTO, allowing the Customs Department to put into place new legislation with new tariff rates.

Just prior to Tonga's proposed accession to the WTO in July critics warned that Tonga had in haste given away trading advantages to more advanced industrialised trading partners. There was also strong opposition based on a belief that the Tongan public do not understand the basic principals of the WTO treaty that the Tongan government will commit the country to.

The proposed consultative workshops appeared to be a government response to these concerns.