Cape Verde appears on track to enter the World Trade Organization by the end of the year, members of the commerce body said Thursday.

The island chain off the west coast of Africa still has to resolve some issues relating to trading rights, investment rules, taxes and export subsidies, but most of the questions Cape Verde fielded at a Thursday meeting of its WTO working group addressed minor technical details.

Few natural resources and little industrial development has driven large-scale emigration from Cape Verde, a group of nine small islands off Senegal with a population of 423,000. The country's economy relies largely on foreign aid and remittances from emigrants, most of them in Europe and the United States.

Cape Verde still has to reach bilateral agreements with Washington and Brussels before it can join the WTO. Those talks are reportedly in the final stages.

Another meeting of the WTO working group handling Cape Verde's accession process will probably take place later this year. Members are aiming to complete the negotiation by December.

Source: The Associated Press