Azerbaijan to Define Date of Bilateral Talks with WTO member-countries

Azerbaijan, Baku, 2 April / corr Trend I.Khalilova / The Azerbaijan Government is holding consultations with the World Trade Organization (WTO) member-countries to decide a date for the bilateral talks, which will probable be in the beginning of May, Mahmud Mammadguliyev, the Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Ministers, stated.

"These can be held on the eve of the 5th round of talks with the WTO working group, preliminarily scheduled on 6 May, or after the meeting," Mammadguliyev explained.

At present talks are being held with the United States, European Union, South Korea, Japan and with the Chinese province of Taiwan. India and Norway have also joined this list. Probably, some meetings will be held in the capitals of these countries, or in Baku.

Updated version of bound-tariffs, i.e. the proposals on maximal customs tariffs for entering the Azerbaijani goods and services market, as well as the proposals on approximation of the legislation in accordance with the WTO requirements, on access to the country's banking, insurance, telecommunications, and energy markets, were supposed to be submitted for continuation of the negotiations. They have been submitted to the WTO Secretariat, Mammadguliyev said.

For the time being, the negotiations with Oman, Georgia, Moldova, Turkey, and OAE have been competed, and the negotiation protocol has been concluded only with the Turkey. Oman has also confirmed its readiness to sign a bilateral document and the United Arab Emirates gave its approval on the level of missions, the deputy minister stated.

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