Azerbaijan, Baku, Jan. 17 / Trend, A. Akhundov /
Azerbaijan has completed bilateral negotiations on its accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) with China, Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister, Chief Negotiator Mahmoud Mammadguliyev told Trend today.
"We have already agreed with China and perhaps we will sign a protocol with it in the near future," Mammadguliyev said.
He did not rule out the possibility of signing these protocols with other countries
Today, Azerbaijan is in the process of bilateral negotiations with the U.S., Japan, Brazil, Ecuador, Sri Lanka, the European Union, Norway, India, South Korea, the Taiwanese Province of China, Canada, Switzerland and Honduras.
Azerbaijan started negotiations in 2004.
Negotiations have been completed and protocols were signed with Turkey, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Georgia and Kyrgyzstan. The signing of protocol with Moldova is underway; the country is still considering documents.
"There is no news from Moldova on this issue, so while we can not say anything specific", Mammadguliyev said.
The member-states of multilateral negotiations on Azerbaijan's joining the WTO must submit new proposals to the secretariat of the organization until Jan. 25.
"The WTO Secretariat will summarize the proposals and send them to Baku", Mammadguliyev said.
The Azerbaijani delegation took part in bilateral and multilateral negotiations in Geneva in late 2012. Azerbaijan's updated proposals on goods and services, domestic support for agriculture and trading system were discussed during negotiations.
He added that the date of the next (6th) round of talks has not been determined yet.
"We agreed that countries will submit written proposals on agriculture and the trade regime within the multilateral negotiations by late January," he said. "Some member-states participating in bilateral talks have submitted updated proposals to Azerbaijan. Others will submit them soon. We will work on these issues and new proposals. When everything is ready, we will submit the documents. Afterwards, a date for the next round of talks will be determined."
Azerbaijan's WTO working group was established on July 16, 1997. Since 1997, Azerbaijan has been represented as an observer at the World Trade Organization.