Azerbaijan, Baku, Sept. 10 / Trend A.Akhundov /
The programme of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) for the fourth quarter of this year includes a meeting of the working group on Azerbaijan's accession to the organisation, Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Mahmud Mammadguliyev told Trend on Monday.
"The meeting is scheduled for the last week of November, so we have a maximum of four to six weeks beforehand to send answers to WTO member countries' questions, proposals for negotiations and so on. Work on the answers is almost complete and I think we will send them in September," Mammadguliyev said.
He said that along with the meeting of the working group, bilateral and multilateral negotiations on agriculture will also be held.
"We will send proposals to all the countries with whom we negotiate. Perhaps meetings will be held with the U.S., or EU," Mammadguliyev said.
Azerbaijan held bilateral talks with the U.S., EU, Norway, Canada, Ecuador and Japan during the ninth round of multilateral talks on Azerbaijan's membership of the WTO in February 2012. In addition, bilateral talks with the U.S., China, Canada and Brazil were held in Geneva on July 24-28.
Azerbaijan is in bilateral talks with the U.S., Japan, Brazil, Ecuador, Sri Lanka, European Union, Norway, India, South Korea, Taiwan Province of China, Canada, and Switzerland.
Azerbaijan started talks in 2004.
Negotiations with Turkey, the Sultanate of Oman, United Arab Emirates, Georgia and Kyrgyzstan have been completed and protocols signed. The country is in the process of signing a protocol with Moldova which is still considering the document.
As part of the talks, Azerbaijan continues working on adjusting its national legislative base in accordance with the WTO requirements as well as on improving the current trade regime. About 40-50 legislative acts should meet the requirements of the organisations and 30 of these have already been unified and work in this direction continues this year.
The working group on Azerbaijan to the WTO was established on July 16, 1997.
Azerbaijan has been represented at the World Trade Organisation as an observer since 1997.