Talks on Azerbaijan's WTO membership postponed at US request
The Azerbaijani government is planning to submit a Factual Summary to the secretariat of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) on Tuesday for subsequent distribution among members of the working group on Azerbaijan, head of the negotiating group, Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Mahmud Mammadguliyev told Trend news agency on Tuesday.
"The WTO Secretariat has submitted this report for the Azerbaijani side's consideration last Friday setting a deadline for its return by October 30," he said.
The report on Azerbaijan's new proposals for member states is usually supplemented after the next procedure of questions and answers. The document is a report on the work carried out by Azerbaijan to join the WTO.
Earlier, the Azerbaijani government has submitted the replies to the questions of WTO member states to the Secretariat. It had prepared Factual Summary on this basis.
"These actions are made within the preparation for the next round of multilateral negotiations, to be held in early December," Mammadguliyev said. "Although preliminary talks were scheduled for the last week of November, they were postponed until early December at the U.S request."
The working group on Azerbaijan reporting to WTO Secretariat was established in July 1997. Since 1997, the South Caucasus republic is represented in the organization as an observer. Azerbaijan began negotiations on WTO membership in 2004.
Negotiations with Turkey, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Georgia and Kyrgyzstan have been completed and relevant protocols signed. The country is in the process of signing a protocol with Moldova, which is still considering the document.
Azerbaijan is currently holding bilateral talks with the U.S., Norway, Canada, Ecuador, Japan, Brazil and China. Azerbaijan is also in talks with Sri Lanka, India, South Korea, Taiwan Province of China and Switzerland.
Azerbaijan continues working on bringing its national legislation into accordance with the WTO requirements as well as on improving the current trade regime. About 40-50 legislative acts must meet the requirements of the organization and 30 of them have already been unified, and work in this area continues this year.