The negotiations lasted for about 20 years and it is now settled that the final accession file is going to be submitted for members’ formal approval on June 22, 2015. The Director General of WTO Roberto Azevêdo congratulated both the member states and the Kazakh government on this “historic event”. He also added that he would be enormously happy to welcome Kazakhstan in WTO.
The main difficulty of the country’s accession to the Organization lied in negotiating of tariffs implemented in countries of the Eurasian Economic Union. Beside Kazakhstan the Union consists of Armenia, Belorussia and Russia.
Kazakhstan submitted its application in 1996. In 2014 it finished bilateral negotiations on its accession with the key member – the European Union.
WTO is an international organization, which controls the world trade. It currently consists of 161 states. Nowadays there are 21 countries negotiating its accession to the Organization. Russia joined WTO in 2012.
