DUSHANBE, July 17, 2012, Asia-Plus — The first round of negotiations on Tajikistan’s admission to the World Trade Organization is completing in Geneva today.
Tajik Foreign Minister Hamrokhon Zarifi told reporters in Dushanbe on July 16 that a Tajik delegation, led by Minister of Economic Development and Trade Sharif Rahimzoda, is in Geneva to conduct the membership negotiations.
We will recall that the Working Party on the accession of Tajikistan to the World Trade Organization was established by the General Council on July 18, 2001. Multilateral work is proceeding on the basis of revised Elements of a draft Working Party Report. Bilateral market access negotiations are underway on the basis of revised offers in goods and services.
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an organization that intends to supervise and liberalize international trade. The organization officially commenced on January 1, 1995 under the Marrakech Agreement, replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which commenced in 1948. The organization deals with regulation of trade between participating countries; it provides a framework for negotiating and formalizing trade agreements, and a dispute resolution process aimed at enforcing participants” adherence to WTO agreements which are signed by representatives of member governments and ratified by their parliaments.
