Azernews.Az

Azerbaijan's joining the World Trade Organization (WTO) will give a chance to stabilize the trade sphere, Polish Deputy Minister of Economy Andrzej Dycha told journalists in Warsaw on Monday.

A meeting of Azerbaijani-Polish intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation started in Warsaw on Monday.

"The annual trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Poland is $130 million," he said. "The dynamics of this year shows the growth trend. But trade turnover between our countries has not been balanced. The exports from Poland are dominating. Joining the WTO will be a huge step for Azerbaijan and will give a chance to stabilize the trade sphere and create guarantees for mutual investments."

"Azerbaijan's joining the WTO will play a huge role in our bilateral relations," deputy minister said. "Poland can be the 'voice' in the WTO that will persuade others to accelerate Azerbaijan's joining the organization. Poland also can help by its experience and suggest the ways of reforming the legal framework."

He said that Poland joined the WTO in 1995. One can say that it is one of the founders of the organization. Poland's joining the WTO and liberal reforms have enabled to attract a lot of foreign investors to the country.

He said that EU countries get around 80 percent of Poland's exports. There are no customs barriers in EU countries. But entrepreneurs see that the market has been already full and look for new opportunities. Therefore, exports to border countries - Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, the Caucasus countries, Central Asia have been recently increasing. China has a special place. The exports of Polish goods to China are quite large, despite the remoteness of the country.

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.

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.