Initial date of the 5th round of talks on full membership of Azerbaijan at the World Trade Organization (WTO) has been scheduled for the mid or end of February 2007. Trend has been informed by the government that the WTO Secretariat refused the conduct of next talks of the second phase which was due in November-December 2006, due to the fact that Azerbaijan should attach more attention to bilateral talks.
The meeting will be held with members of the organization Turkey, the European Union and perhaps, the United States. These countries are very much interested in Azerbaijan policy in the sphere of customs registration, licensing, privatization, standardization and certification, and price policy.
The WTO member-states wish to understand how much the policy is liberal in Azerbaijan in these spheres. The majority of questions asked from Azerbaijan concern the mechanism of standardization and certification, which was formed during the Soviet time and does not meet the international system. The Agency for Standardization and Certification is developing a new law to improve it. The tariff proposals are discussed with several WTO member-states, including Canada, Australia and the United States.
So far, Azerbaijan has finalized the bilateral talks with Moldova, Georgia and Oman and expects to sign contract with these countries. Since 1997 the country possesses a status of observer at WTO.