Baku, Azerbaijan, June 6
By Ilaha Mammadli - Trend:
Chair of the World Trade Organization (WTO) working party on the accession of Azerbaijan, Ambassador Walter Werner (Germany) will arrive in Baku in the first half of June to discuss the progress of Azerbaijan’s preparations for joining the WTO, Azerbaijan’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mahmud Mammad-Guliyev told Trend.
“After that, the date of the next round of negotiations between Azerbaijan and the WTO member states may be defined,” he said. “But before that, the Azerbaijani side will need to be seriously prepared.”
Mammad-Guliyev outlined four main directions of negotiations held by Azerbaijan - goods (tariffs for agricultural and industrial products), trade in services, improvement of legislation (bringing it in accordance with WTO requirements) and support for agriculture (subsidization).
He noted that Azerbaijan should first achieve good results in diversifying its economy.
“Until 2020, we expect preliminary results from economic reforms carried out in Azerbaijan, economic diversification and development of the non-oil sector,” he said. “Only then it will be possible to speak about the intensification of the talks and the completion of the process of Azerbaijan’s accession to the WTO in about 2-3 years.”
Azerbaijan expects to join the WTO as a developing country, and this has its advantages, he added.
“In any case, everything depends on the negotiations,” he noted.
Azerbaijan launched negotiations with the WTO member states in 2004. Azerbaijan submitted to the organization 400 documents, including 300 legislative acts, and also answered more than 2,000 questions of WTO member countries.
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. Presently, the country is in talks with 13 countries.
Azerbaijan has had an observer status at the WTO since 1997.