The next round of talks on Azerbaijan’s entrance to the World Trade Organization (WTO) is scheduled for February-March 2006,
Mahmud Mammadguliyev, the Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister, told a briefing on Thursday.
The Deputy FM informed the media representative about the talks held in Geneva from 28 June to 1 July. Mammadguliyev said that for the first time the talks were held in the multilateral level. The meeting took report on Azerbaijan, and a working group of the government answered questions of WTO experts on trade regime, while written answers to some questions will be submitted to the organization by 1 August, he underlined.
In general, the talks were constructive, and the proposals by Azerbaijan approved and some recommendations were given to the Azerbaijani government for further implementation, Mammadguliyev stressed.
The key requirements set for WTO are linked with the agriculture sector, cancellation of export subsidies, exit to the market, rates of tariffs and trade services.
The WTO demands the improvement of the legislature, development of mechanisms for their application. The Azerbaijani working group will have to work out a report on �Actual Results’, which reflects data on trade regime in the country. the results of the will be discussed in a meeting to be staged at the Foreign Ministry on Friday.
The Azerbaijani government appealed to the WTO in 1997, while the first round talks were held only after 4 years - in 2001.