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Azerbaijan prepares for next round of WTO negotiations

Business Materials 13 August 2014 15:57 (UTC +04:00)
The Azerbaijani government hopes to hold the next meeting with the working group of the World Trade Organization in late November, chief negotiator for WTO accession, Deputy Foreign Minister Mahmud Mammadguliyev told Trend.

Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug.13
By Ilaha Mammadli - Trend:

The Azerbaijani government hopes to hold the next meeting with the working group of the World Trade Organization in late November, chief negotiator for WTO accession, Deputy Foreign Minister Mahmud Mammadguliyev told Trend.

"Azerbaijani side plans to submit answers to the questions of WTO member countries by end of September, on the basis of which the secretariat will prepare a Factual Summary report, which will be sent to the countries," he said.

Azerbaijan has already submitted a new table with the changes in the agricultural sector of the country in the last three years (2011-2013) to the WTO Secretariat for multilateral negotiations on domestic support to agriculture, according to the deputy FM.

The last meeting of the working group was held in June 2014 in Geneva. However, bilateral negotiations on goods and services have been held twice this year - in February [alongside multilateral negotiations on agriculture] and in June.

"Four new countries - Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, the Dominican Republic and Honduras joined the negotiating process which took place in late June. An exchange was held among the three countries, however, the Saudi Arabia was represented in expanded format at the talks and has already started to ask specific questions," Mammadguliyev said.

In total, the bilateral talks were held with 12 states last summer.

The chief negotiator believes that it is early to speak about the end of the process, by taking into account the increased interest in holding negotiations with Azerbaijan within the framework of the WTO.

Azerbaijan has had an observer status at the WTO since 1997. A working group on Azerbaijan was established at the WTO Secretariat on July 16, 1997.
Azerbaijan started negotiations with the WTO member countries in 2004. The country is currently negotiating with 18 countries.

Edited by CN

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