On the participation of Belarus in the meeting of the WTO Committee on regional trade agreements
19.11.2018On 19 November 2018 the delegations of the EAEU member-states – Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia – and the representatives of the Eurasian Economic Commission took part in the meeting of the WTO Committee on regional trade agreements which was held in Geneva. The Belarusian delegation was headed by Mr. Roman Sobolev, Director of the External Economic Activity Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and included representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Economy, the Ministry of Agriculture and Food, and the Permanent Mission in Geneva.
More than 75 WTO members including EU, USA, China and India, took part in the meeting. The focus of the Committee was to review the provisions of the Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union of May 29, 2014 on the basis of the Factual presentation of the Treaty which was prepared by the WTO Secretariat.
For reference: under the Article XXIV:7 of the GATT-1994 the WTO members must inform the WTO of concluded regional trade agreements. After such notification, the WTO Secretariat prepares a Factual presentation of the agreement. This document contains detailed analysis of provisions of the agreement, of its scope and liberalization degree of trade in goods and/or services, after the agreement enters into force. The Factual presentation of the WTO Secretariat and additional information provided by the parties to the agreement are distributed among the WTO members in order to let them prepare questions to the parties to the agreement. Taking into account the questions received, the participants of the regional trade agreement prepare replies and comments, which are then reviewed at the meeting of the WTO Committee on Regional Trade Agreements.
In its statement the Belarusian delegation noted that Belarus, as an EAEU member, is de facto implementing the WTO rules in foreign trade in goods and services, and stressed the importance of the early conclusion of the negotiation process on Belarus’ WTO Accession.
During the period of 20-23 November 2018 the Belarusian delegation is planning to meet a number of WTO members in order to bring closer the positions on market access for goods and services in the context of the Belarus’s accession to the WTO.
