Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 23
By Anvar Mammadov - Trend:
Before joining the World Trade Organization (WTO), Azerbaijan should rearrange its production spheres and make them more export-oriented, a source in the Azerbaijani government told Trend Feb. 23.
The source noted that joining the WTO presently won’t give Azerbaijan the advantages that most members of the organization have.
“The WTO creates the most acceptable conditions for exporting countries,” the source said. “Presently, oil and oil products predominate in the structure of our exports. Given that having joined the WTO, we will get preferences for the export of products worth only about $3.5 billion [considering the current non-oil exports value], but we will have to provide privileges for the import of products worth $9 billion, the issue of WTO accession may become the most relevant for Azerbaijan after increasing the non-oil exports. Presently, the membership in the WTO isn’t so important for Azerbaijan, but it will become interesting for us in the future.”
The source added that Azerbaijan continues negotiations on accession to the WTO, both in bilateral and multilateral formats.
“We have already completed negotiations with a number of countries, but the talks still continue with the leading WTO member countries,” the source said. “The status of Azerbaijan in the WTO remains the main issue, that is, whether we will join the WTO as a developed or developing country. In order to protect the local producer, during the negotiations, Azerbaijan is seeking to enter the WTO with the status of a developing country, which will allow Azerbaijan to continue providing more significant financial support to the economy.”
Azerbaijan launched negotiations with the WTO member states in 2004. As of today, the country has completed negotiations and signed protocols with Turkey, Oman, the UAE, Georgia and Kyrgyzstan. Azerbaijan is at the stage of signing protocols with China and Moldova.
Azerbaijan has had an observer status at the WTO since 1997.