DUSHANBE, July 29, 2010, Asia-Plus – Tajikistan is completing negotiations with China and India on joining the World Trade Organization (WTO), Ms. Larisa Kislyakova, the chairperson of the foreign economic activity department within the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade (MEDT), remarked at a news conference in Dushanbe on July 28.
According to her, negotiations with China have already been completed and an agreement has been reached on completion of negotiations with Kyrgyzstan and India.
“The plan of events on intensification of the process on joining the WTO was adopted in May this year,” said she, “This plan indicates the main problem aspects we have to remove. These are amendments to a number of laws. Thus, we have to bring into compliance the law on allied rights and the criminal procedure code that have some discrepancies on intellectual property.”
Besides, it is necessary to annul a number of president’s decrees adopted in the 1990s, including president’s decrees on conclusion on scientific examination of newly established productions and full return of currency receipts to the country, Kislyakova said. “These laws now do not work but still exist in the legislation,” the MEDT official noted.
It is also necessary to simplify customs payment procedures and submit the law on standardization for consideration to the government.
“The issue of annulling VAT on aluminum and cotton fiber is currently under consideration,” said Kislyakova, “It is planned to introduce sales tax in exchange for this.”
Tajikistan still has a lot to do to bring its legislation into compliance with requirements and rules of the World Trade Organization in order to make the country’s investment climate more attractive and laws more transparent and understandable for foreign investors, she said.
The Working Party on the accession of Tajikistan to the WTO was established by the General Council on July 18 2001. A Factual Summary of Points Raised (summarizing the discussions on the Working Party) was circulated informally in April 2205 and subsequently revised in May 2006. Bilateral market access negotiations are under way on the basis of revised offers in goods and services. The Working Party held its fourth meeting in September 2009 to continue the examination of Tajikistan’s foreign trade regime.
