The State Commission on preparations for Azerbaijan’s joining to the World Trade Organization (WTO) is to submit documents to the WTO Secretariat for the next talks. It will enable to hold negotiations in late February of the following year, deputy Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan, the head of the negotiation group Mahmud Mammadguliyev told Trend.
В"The documents are to be produced usually to the Secretariat of this international institution 4-5 weeks before the talks”, Mammadguliyev was quoted as saying.
Azerbaijan is currently getting ready to the last meeting within the first stage of the talks with WTO. According to the deputy Minister, during the forthcoming round, meetings with representatives of the European Union, USA, Canada and Australia, the WTO members, which came out with their own questions to Azerbaijan will be held. The term till 1 August 2005 has been given to member states to put some questions they are interested in, to Azerbaijan. The questions are related to the price policy, customs procedures, licensing policy, privatization, standardization and certification. The WTO member states want to understand, how liberal the policy of Azerbaijan in these issues.
Most questions are related to the standardization and certification mechanisms, which had formed in the Soviet times and are not in line with the international system.