Brussels, 09/01/2013 (Agence Europe) - Other former USSR republics- Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan - are also making progress towards accession to the multilateral organisation, as is Afghanistan.
On 10 December 2012, the General Council of the WTO paved the way for the accession of Tajikistan, which must now ratify its accession protocol by 7 June. Tajikistan put forward its application to join the WTO in late May 2001. It may be joined before the end of the year by Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, whose progress towards accession to the WTO was praised by the organisation last month. For both countries, which have been negotiating their entry into the multilateral organisations since 1996 and 1997 respectively, bilateral agreements on access to the market for goods and services have still to be concluded with a number of countries, and multilateral commitments for reforms and liberalisation are still to be finalised.
Afghanistan, which applied to join in 2004, is also making progress along this path, and the member countries have said that they are determined to make Afghan accession a priority for 2013. To this end, Kabul must make progress on a number of chapters, including state ownership and state commercial companies, commercialisation rights, professional licences and fees, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, measures on investments and intellectual property rights. (EH/transl.fl)