Tonga becomes latest WTO member

Tonga is made up of more than 150 islands

Tonga has become the 151st and newest member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), 12 years after the Pacific archipelago applied to join.

One of the world's smallest economies, Tonga relies heavily on foreign trade, particularly with Japan, New Zealand, Australia and the US.

Admission to the WTO should allow Tonga to develop trade links while providing a forum for settling trade disputes.

Its key industries include fishing, agriculture and tourism.

Tonga will also now, in theory, have an equal voice with the United States and the EU in deciding future trade deals, which are agreed by consensus.

Integration

A grouping of more than 170 islands in the South Pacific, Tonga depends on trade for more than half of its annual economic output.

Despite its small population of about 116,000, Tonga has historically suffered from high poverty and unemployment levels which led to civil unrest in 2005 and 2006.

Tonga applied to join the WTO in 1995 and formal negotiations on its entry began in 2001.

"It is important for the WTO to continue facilitating fuller integration into the world economy of small developing countries such as Tonga," Pascal Lamy, the WTO's director general, said.

Tonga was a British protectorate until 1970, and has strong ties with New Zealand.