The Pacific Island nation was all set to be formally approved for membership at the 4th WTO ministerial conference in Doha, Qatar, (November 9-13), but the WTO official who wished to remain anonymous has revealed that the Vanuatu government has presented a letter instead to the WTO detailing its concerns over elements of the agreement between the two parties and now the WTO must decide whether or not to re-negotiate the terms. The nature of the conditions that are troubling the Vanuatu government is not yet known.

The value of Vanuatu's exports, largely comprising coconuts, beef, cocoa, timber, coffee and kava root, came to around 50 million dollars last year. Officially classified as one of the least-developed countries in the world, Vanuatu began negotiations to join the WTO with the creation of a Working Party in 1995. Members of the Working Party agreed to keep meetings to the minimum necessary and to accelerate the accession process as much as possible at both the bilateral and multilateral level.