Geneva hosts bilateral and multilateral negotiations on Azerbaijan’s WTO membership
Baku, December 4 (AZERTAC). Next round of bilateral and multilateral negotiations, the 10th meeting of Working Party on Accession of Azerbaijan to WTO has got underway in Geneva.
The delegation of ministerial representatives led by Mahmud Mammadguliyev, deputy foreign minister, is debating the issue of potential WTO membership of Azerbaijan.
According to the he Ministry’s press service, during the four-days event, Azerbaijani delegation will hold plurilateral meetings with WTO Secretariat on issues of agricultural sector support and bilateral negotiations with the US, European Union, Canada and Norway.
The updated proposals on the goods and services submitted by Azerbaijan, local support to the agriculture and trade system of the country will be discussed at the negotiations.
Earlier the WTO Secretariat appointed preliminarily the 10th meeting of the working groups on Azerbaijan’s accession to the WTO for 30 November. Nevertheless, Azerbaijan, which held in Geneva on 24 February the 9th meeting of the working groups on admission to the WTO, has a chance to conduct another round of talks this year.
On 27-28 July, Azerbaijan held consultations in Geneva with the WTO Secretariat and bilateral negotiations with the United States, Canada, Brazil and China.
Some progress has been achieved during bilateral negotiations, but the sides are not yet ready to announce their completion.
This February bilateral talks with WTO members and multilateral talks on issues of agricultural sector support were also held. Participants of negotiating process noted a little progress of Azerbaijan on the way to full membership in WTO and called it to work further in this direction.
The 8th meeting of the Working Group on Admission of Azerbaijan took place in Geneva on 18-22 October 2010. Multilateral talks were not held in 2011. Azerbaijan has been negotiating about its WTO membership since 1999.
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