All WTO members interested in Belarus’ accession

All the WTO member states are interested in Belarus’ accession to this organization, Bozkurt Aran, Permanent Representative of Turkey to the WTO, Chairman of the Working Party on the Accession of Belarus, said at a meeting with members of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus in Minsk on 22 June, BelTA has learnt.

According to Bozkurt Aran, the WTO member states play a key role in deciding whom to accept. “All of them have confirmed their interest in Belarus’ accession to the organization. The WTO is not a universal organization without Belarus. I think that being a European country Belarus should be in the WTO and take a rightful place there,” he said. Bozkurt Aran noted that Belarus is making a valuable contribution to maintaining stability and security of the entire European system. The benefits Belarus can get from joining the WTO include first of all a possibility to enter a system of trade “where the game is based on rules and these rules are observed”. “I am glad that I have an opportunity to deliver this point to Belarusian parliamentarians,” the Permanent Representative of Turkey said.

Bozkurt Aran also noted that in the long run the entire package of documents on Belarus’ accession to the WTO will be ratified by the parliament. This is why it is very important that the Belarusian parliament be directly involved in all the reforms of the legislation aimed to make it compliant with the WTO requirements.

The Chairman of the Working Party underlined that Belarus’ economy relies on foreign trade and the foreign trade of the country has recently been on the rise.

Deputy Chairman of the House of Representatives’ permanent commission for international affairs and relations with the CIS Igor Karpenko noted that the accession to the WTO is a topical issue for Belarus as the national economy is export-oriented. Belarus is seeking new forms of trade with other countries, is interested in the expansion of cooperation and exploration of new markets. In this context Belarus’ accession to the WTO regulations translates into certain stability on the international market. Igor Karpenko underlined that Belarus had done a lot to bring its rules in compliance with the WTO regulations. The President of Belarus adopted the concept of optimizing the legislation and other relevant documents.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) intends to supervise and liberalize international trade. The organization officially commenced on January 1, 1995. The organization has 153 members and 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.

Source: BelTA