WTO to prepare factual summary on Azerbaijan soon

The Secretariat of the World Trade Organization (WTO) will prepare Factual Summary on Azerbaijan until Oct. 14, the Chief Negotiator and Deputy Foreign Minister Mahmud Mammadguliyev said.

"The Azerbaijani side has submitted answers to the questions of WTO member-countries to the secretariat," he said. "It promised to prepare Factual Summary till Oct. 14. Afterwards, it will be possible to determine Azerbaijan's stage while joining the WTO and the conducted work."

He said that the document will be sent to member-states of the organization.

"Afterwards, they will consider the need for holding a meeting of the Working Group [IX round of multilateral negotiations] with the WTO Secretariat, he said. "As it is known, another round of talks is likely to be held. It can be held in late November or early December."

Mammadguliyev said that bilateral talks may be held during a meeting of the working group.

The last working group meeting was held on Oct. 18, 2010 in Geneva. Bilateral meetings on goods and services were held with the U.S., Canada, Japan, Norway, Switzerland and the Chinese Province of Taiwan and other WTO members on Oct. 19-22.

Today, all leading WTO member countries were involved in Russia's process of joining the organization, so Azerbaijan also seeks to hold bilateral negotiations in late 2011.
Mammadguliyev earlier said that several countries, including the U.S., expressed a willingness to meet with Azerbaijan's negotiating group in multilateral negotiations.

Although the country is in negotiations with 12 WTO member countries, the Azerbaijani delegation held bilateral talks with the EU, Ecuador, Switzerland, Brazil, and China in Geneva on July 25-29.

The country is in the process of negotiations with the United States, Japan, Brazil, Ecuador, Sri Lanka, the European Union, Norway, India, South Korea, the Chinese Province of Taiwan, and Switzerland. Azerbaijan began negotiations in 2004.

At present, negotiations are completed and the protocols were signed with Turkey, the Sultanate of Oman, United Arab Emirates, and Georgia. The country is at the stage of signing the protocol with Moldova, which is still considering the document. Kyrgyzstan, however, has agreed to sign.

Additionally, Azerbaijan continues bringing the national legal framework in line with WTO requirements and aims to improve the existing trade scheme. About 40-50 legislative acts must comply with the organization's requirements, with nearly 30 documents having been unified. Work on this direction will continue into next year.

A World Trade Organization sponsored working group on Azerbaijan was established on July 16, 1997. Since 1997 Azerbaijan has been represented at the WTO as an observer.


/Trend/