An early accession to the WTO is an economic and political priority of the Croatian government. After six years of exhaustive and comprehensive negotiations, Croatia is on the verge of  being admitted into the WTO. The only remaining issue, the audiovisual services commitments, turned out to be the point that impeded the conclusion of  negotiations. Due toopposite concepts between the U.S. and the European Union in the field of audiovisual services, Croatian accession to the WTO has been blocked for the last seven months.

  Croatian accession to the WTO would be an important contribution to the implementation of the economic dimension of the Stability Pact, which also calls for an early accession to the WTO. Without early WTO membership, future economic reforms and growth in Croatia,  the preconditions for political stability, might be jeopardized.