DUSHANBE, December 20, 2011, Asia-Plus — Tajikistan and Turkey have signed a protocol on supporting Tajikistan’s admission to the World Trade Organization (WTO).
The document was signed in Geneva, Switzerland on the sidelines of the Eighth Ministerial Conference that took place in Geneva from December 15 to December 17 Meeting.
In parallel to the Plenary Session, where Ministers made prepared statements, three Working Sessions took place with the following themes: “Importance of the Multilateral Trading System and the WTO,” “Trade and Development” and “Doha Development Agenda.” The Conference also took up the accessions of Russia, Samoa and Montenegro.
The protocol was inked by Salohiddin Nasriddinov, Tajik Ambassador to the Swiss Confederation, and Bozurkat Aran, Permanent Representative of Turkey to the WTO, the Tajik MFA information department said.
Tajikistan is reportedly expected to sign similar protocols with a number of other WTO member nations in the near future as well.
We will recall that the Working Party on the accession of Tajikistan was established by the General Council on 18 July 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 Working Party held its sixth meeting in July 2011 to continue the examination of Tajikistan”s foreign trade regime.
At the sixth meeting of the Working Party on the accession of Tajikistan, WTO Members reportedly reviewed reforms undertaken by Tajikistan to its trade regime and evaluated the progress made on the bilateral market access negotiations for goods and services. WTO members welcomed Tajikistan’s commendable efforts towards membership. They appreciated the progress made in reforming its trade regime in order to be compatible with WTO rules.
While reviewing the first version of the draft Working Party Report, members identified areas that still required further work including antidumping, trading rights, investment regime, import licensing, rules of origin, sanitary and phyto-sanitary measures, technical barriers to trade, intellectual property rights, and services.
On market access negotiations for goods and services, Tajikistan and members reported good progress. Negotiations are on-going with 17 interested members.
