Working Party on Accession of Belarus to WTO took place in Geneva
24.01.2017
Formal meeting of the Working Party on Accession of Belarus to the World Trade Organization took place on 24 January 2017. The meeting saw significant interest from the WTO Members. Over 40 countries participated in the activity, which is yet another confirmation of strong interest in further integration of Belarusian economy into the international trading system.
The delegation of Belarus informed the Working Party on the economic policy of the country and its trade regime. Particular focus was made on the steps ensuring compliance of the national economy with the WTO standards, which had been undertaken in 2016 following the relevant decision of the President of the Republic of Belarus. Members of delegation replied to numerous questions.
WTO Members underlined strategic interest towards the accession of Belarus to the Organization. They expressed satisfaction with the quality of documents provided by Belarus and oral responses, which, in their view, demonstrated serious and profound approach in terms of homework made, as well as respective political will of Belarus for the WTO accession. The Government of Belarus heard expectations that the received comments and questions would be effectively taken into account and the process of formulation of the multilateral commitments of Belarus be finalized in short terms.
The Head of Delegation of Belarus, First Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Yeudachenka emphasized in his statement that, de-facto, Belarus was already living in accordance with the WTO standards to a large extent and Belarus’ interest to actively pursue the WTO membership was aimed at the possibility of using all the progressive mechanisms of the Organization. He stated that the WTO accession entailed significant intergovernmental efforts requiring checked approaches, which enabled the development of various sectors of economy and maintained the social stability. Opening of the national market to external competition had to occur on well-prepared basis and on terms allowing Belarus to gradually get prepared to new realities.
The discussion at the Working Party, the comments and questions received will lay the foundation of further work of the Government of Belarus on reformation of economic legislation and tools.
Agreement on further steps in the WTO accession process of Belarus, including on preparation of a principal final document – draft Working Party Report – by the next meeting, became the major outcome of the Working Party.
It is expected that the next Working Party on Accession of Belarus will take place in the second half of 2017.
