Azerbaijan, Baku, Aug.4 / Trend, I.Khalilova /
The next meeting with the World Trade Organization's Working Group will be held no earlier than November, Deputy Foreign Minister Mahmud Mammadguliyev said.
Earlier, talks were scheduled for October.
"All leading WTO member countries are involved in the process of Russia's WTO membership, so that some countries wish to hold bilateral talks with Azerbaijan within the Working Group's meeting," he said.
The Azerbaijani delegation held bilateral talks with the EU, Ecuador, Switzerland, Brazil and China in Geneva last month [July 25-29], although in general the country is in negotiations with 12 WTO member countries.
Mammadguliyev said some countries including the U.S., expressed their desire to hold meetings during multilateral negotiations.
Date of meetings with the WTO Working Group is also postponed. It is due to the fact that the organization's secretariat needed time to prepare a Factual Summary.
"The Azerbaijani side responded to WTO member countries' questions based on which the secretariat will prepare a Factual Summary, which will be sent to countries," Mammadguliyev said.
The country is in the process of negotiations with the United States, Japan, Brazil, Ecuador, Sri Lanka, European Union, Norway, India, South Korea, Chinese Province of Taiwan. In 2009, Switzerland joined this list.
The last meeting with the working group was held on Oct. 18, 2010 in Geneva, and bilateral meetings on goods and services were held with the U.S., Canada, Japan, Norway, Switzerland and the Chinese Province of Taiwan and other WTO members on Oct. 19-22.
Azerbaijan has started negotiations since 2004.
At present, negotiations are completed. The protocols were signed with Turkey, the Sultanate of Oman, United Arab Emirates, Georgia. The country is at the stage of signing the protocol with Moldova, which still considers the document. But Kyrgyzstan has agreed to sign it.
Azerbaijan has started negotiations since 2004.
Mammadguliyev didn't rule out probability of completing talks in the near future with some countries, without disclosing them.
Along with this, Azerbaijan continues working to bring the national legal framework into line with WTO requirements, to improve the existing trade regime. About 40-50 legislative acts must comply with the organization's requirements, nearly 30 documents of which have been unified, and work in this direction will continue next year.
Last year, the WTO secretariat has expanded the working group on Azerbaijan by including four more countries - Ukraine, Brazil, Ecuador and Switzerland. As a result, the total number of members of the working group reached 32, including 27 EU countries.
A working group on Azerbaijan under the WTO was established July 16, 1997. Since 1997, Azerbaijan has been represented at the World Trade Organization as an observer.