Baku, Azerbaijan, April 28
By Ilaha Khalilova - Trend:
The next round of bilateral talks on Azerbaijan's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) is expected to be held on June-July, 2014, Mahmud Mammadguliyev, chief negotiator for Azerbaijan's accession to the WTO, Deputy Foreign Minister told Trend on April 28.
"Holding the meeting with WTO member states depends on the process of preparations for discussions at the summer session. We will analyze the proposals of the countries and adopt a decision on the necessity of holding the meeting," the deputy foreign minister said.
"The responses to the countries' questions will be prepared by Azerbaijan by the next round of negotiations with the WTO working group, scheduled for late 2014," Mammadguliyev added.
Azerbaijan began consultations with the WTO in 2004. Currently, Azerbaijan is in the process of bilateral negotiations with the U.S., Japan, Brazil, Ecuador, Sri Lanka, European Union, Norway, India, South Korea, Taiwan Province of China, Canada, Switzerland and Honduras to join the WTO.
Talks have been completed and protocols signed with Turkey, the Sultanate of Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Georgia and Kyrgyzstan. The country is at the stage of signing a protocol with China and Moldova.
The last bilateral talks with the U.S., Canada, Norway, Japan and other countries on the issues related to goods and services and the multilateral talks on the issues regarding the domestic support to agriculture in Azerbaijan were held in Geneva in February 2014.
The working group on Azerbaijan at the WTO Secretariat was established on 16 July 1997.
Since then, Azerbaijan has been invited to attend the World Trade Organization as an observer.
Translated by L.Z.
Edited by C.N.