Azerbaijan, Baku, Aug. 9 / Trend I.Khalilova /
Holding regular meeting (the 8th round of multilateral talks) with the World Trade Organization (WTO) member countries is possibly by October-November 2010, head of the negotiating group, Deputy Foreign Minister Mahmud Mammadguliyev said. Earlier it was planned to hold talks in July 2010.
"We have not had time to prepare for another round of talks and negotiations on agriculture in July, as we failed to submit proposals for the goods. Holding of negotiations this year depends on when we will submit proposals to WTO members," Mammadguliyev said.
The country held bilateral talks only for the services sector in July. The talks were held with the European Union, Taiwan Province of China, India and other countries. Mammadguliyev said agreement on computer software was reached during the negotiations.
"Discussions were also held with China on support for Azerbaijan's WTO accession, but the formal bilateral negotiations with China is not planned, as it has not yet expressed such interest," Mammadguliyev said.
After the July [in 2009] meeting with the WTO Working Group [the sixth round of multilateral talks], along with U.S. and EU, questions and comments from Australia, concerning the schedule of domestic support and export subsidies which will be used by Azerbaijan, from Brazil - on tariffs, South Korea - both on tariffs and on services have been received.
Tariff commitments are also key in the process of bilateral talks with the EU and the U.S.. In addition to the tariff policy, their requirements also include to the liberalization of services on intellectual property. They offer opening markets in the financial, communications sector, in the sphere of distributor service, the distribution area.
Azerbaijan is in the process of holding negotiations with the United States, Japan, Brazil, Ecuador, Sri Lanka, the EU, Norway, India, South Korea and Taiwan. This year, Switzerland joined the list in 2009.
Currently, negotiations were completed and protocols were signed with Turkey, Oman and the UAE. The country is at the stage of signing protocols with Moldova and Kyrgyzstan.
Recently, the WTO Secretariat extended a working group on Azerbaijan by including four more countries, the Azerbaijani Economic Development Ministry reported.
The WTO Secretariat established the working group on Azerbaijan July, 16, 1997.
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