Azerbaijan, Baku, July 1 / Trend I.Khalilova /
Holding regular meeting (the 8th round of multilateral talks) with the World Trade Organization (WTO) member countries is possibly by late 2010, head of the negotiating group, Deputy Foreign Minister Mahmud Mammadguliyev said. Earlier it was planned to hold talks in July 2010.
"We have not had time to prepare for another round of talks and negotiations on agriculture in July, as we failed to submit proposals for the goods. They are currently under consideration, but they will be submitted to the WTO secretariat soon," Mammadguliyev said." Therefore, it is possible that next meeting will be held this year.
Fixing of date of the next round of talks depends on the submission of proposals on goods by the Azerbaijani side for bilateral negotiations, and proposals on services have already been sent to the WTO secretariat.
The February meeting of the Governmental Commission of Azerbaijan considered state of bilateral and multilateral talks, the need for improvement "Bound" tariffs on certain agricultural and fish products.
After the July [in 2009] meeting with the WTO Working Group [the sixth round of multilateral talks], along with U.S. and EU, questions and comments from Australia, concerning the schedule of domestic support and export subsidies which will be used by Azerbaijan, from Brazil - on tariffs, South Korea - both on tariffs and on services have been received.
Azerbaijan is achieving entry into the WTO with the status of a developing country, which will allow the country to provide greater financial support to the agricultural sector, as in this case, the country will be able to keep funding at the level of 10 percent of GDP produced in agriculture.
Azerbaijan will take another two to three years to complete the process of joining the World Trade Organization (WTO), local WTO expert in the framework of USAID's support for trade and investment in Azerbaijan Elkhan Mikayilov said.
He said Azerbaijan's joining the WTO will allow the reduction of business costs by about 20-30 percent, and competition will also lead to lower tariffs and commodity prices by 20-30 percent. He added that bank interest rates may also decline due to increasing competition.
"Membership is mostly advantageous to consumers, as this would reduce the prices on goods and services," Mikayilov said.
Under the previously prepared strategy of economic liberalization, the growth of the non-oil sector would amount to 2.4 percent within two years after the admission and demand for imports would increase by approximately 7.7 percent. Meanwhile, the preservation of customs tariffs at current levels is speeding up the process of Azerbaijan's joining the WTO.
In previous negotiations on international trade, several countries offered to reduce the tariffs below 15 percent, which today are the maximum rate of customs duties in Azerbaijan. But in the proposals of the Azerbaijani government, the tariffs were set at 30 percent.
Tariff commitments are also key in the process of bilateral talks with the EU and the U.S.. In addition to the tariff policy, their requirements also include to the liberalization of services on intellectual property. They offer opening markets in the financial, communications sector, in the sphere of distributor service, the distribution area.
Azerbaijan is in the process of holding negotiations with the United States, Japan, Brazil, Ecuador, Sri Lanka, the EU, Norway, India, South Korea and Taiwan. This year, Switzerland joined the list in 2009.
Currently, negotiations were completed and protocols were signed with Turkey, Oman and the UAE. The country is at the stage of signing protocols with Moldova and Kyrgyzstan.
Recently, the WTO Secretariat extended a working group on Azerbaijan by including four more countries, the Azerbaijani Economic Development Ministry reported.
The WTO Secretariat established the working group on Azerbaijan July, 16, 1997.
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