Azerbaijan, Baku, Nov. 21 / Trend E. Kosolapova/
Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev signed the Law on ratification of the Treaty on functioning of the Customs Union within the framework of the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Kazakh president's press-service reported on Monday.
The documents on the establishment of the Customs Union were signed in Minsk on Nov.27, 2009. The Customs Union, which was commissioned on Jan.1, 2010, is the union of neighboring states. A unified economic space was created under the CU to develop free trade, as well as to set higher tariffs on the external borders of the association. It includes Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan.
The agreed forms of state control have been moved to external borders of the Customs Union. A common system of customs rules and regulations has been introduced. As a result, mutual turnover within the Customs Union increased by nearly 40 percent in the first half of 2011.
According to the treaty, WTO rules become a part of the legal system of the Customs Union.
The CU's members are not WTO members yet.
Russia signed the long-awaited agreement with Georgia that eliminates the final barrier on Moscow's membership to the WTO on Nov. 9. Russia's joining the WTO is expected in 2012.
Kazakhstan and Belarus are in negotiations for WTO membership.