On participation of Belarus’ delegation in the meeting of the WTO Informal Group of Acceding Governments
09.06.2020On 9 June 2020 H.E. Yury Ambrazevich, Permanent Representative of Belarus in Geneva, chaired the 12th meeting of the Informal Group of Acceding Governments (IGAG), which was held in a remote format. More than 50 representatives of capitals and Permanent Missions in Geneva from 17 countries (Belarus, Azerbaijan, Algeria, Bahamas, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bhutan, East Timor, Iraq, Iran, Comoros, Lebanon, Serbia, Syria, Somalia, Sudan , Uzbekistan, Ethiopia), as well as the representatives of the WTO Secretariat took part in the meeting.
The participants exchanged views on how to promote the negotiations on WTO accession to in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Mr. Alan Wolff, WTO Deputy Director General, assured that the further expansion of membership remains among the WTO priorities and urged the IGAG members to continue active cooperation with the WTO members in all negotiation areas, including in remote format. Mr. Wolff presented concrete steps that could be taken by the acceding governments at this stage in order to contribute to the multilateral response to the challenges caused by the pandemic.
In his speech the Ambassador-at-Large of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus – the Chief Negotiator for Belarus’s accession to the WTO H.E. Mr. Vladimir Serpikov confirmed the interest of Belarus in soonest accession to the WTO on mutually acceptable terms. It was noted, that despite the difficulties caused by the pandemic, Belarus continues active bilateral negotiations with the interested WTO Members and expresses its readiness to hold the next meeting of the Working Party on the Accession of Belarus to the WTO at any time convenient for WTO Members.
While summing up the meeting, H.E. Mr. Yury Ambrazevich, Permanent Representative of Belarus in Geneva, emphasized the importance of the acceding governments’ involvement in multilateral cooperation and strategic planning in order to overcome the consequences of the pandemic. It is noted that the WTO accession is a two-way street, where open dialogue with the leadership of the WTO creates value for the acceding government both as a means of promoting their accessions and as an opportunity to contribute to the future of the Organization itself.
