1. WTO Accession Process of Republic of Azerbaijan International Conference on “Law of International trade in the region of Caucasus and Central Asia May 30, 2013. Baku. Mirza Aliyev WTO Accession Division Ministry of Economic Development of Republic of Azerbaijan

2. 10/18/2015 2 Chronology of Accession Process Azerbaijan applied for WTO membership in June, 1997 Working Party on Accession of Azerbaijan was set up in July, 1997 Submission of the Memorandum on foreign trade regime of the Republic of Azerbaijan to WTO Secretariat – April, 1999 First Session of the Working Party on Azerbaijan was held in June, 2002 in Geneva

3. 10/18/2015 3 Bilateral and Multilateral Negotiations Multilateral negotiations 37 members are in Working Party As of today 10 meeting of Working Party were held (in 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2 meetings in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2 meetings in 2012) The latest meeting was held in 7 th December 2012 in Geneva Commitments on Agriculture were discussed and the Factual Summary was revised in the latest meeting

4. 10/18/2015 4 Bilateral negotiations  Azerbaijan has ongoing bilateral negotiations with 12 countries: 8 of them are both on Goods and Services 4 of them are only on Goods  5 bilateral negotiations on Goods and Services have been already concluded and bilateral protocols have been signed: Turkey (2007), Oman and United Arab Emirates (2008), Georgia (2010), Kyrgyz Republic (2012).

5. 10/18/2015 5 Bilateral negotiations Current applied rates of Azerbaijan on goods: 0-15% (average rate is 9% which is lower than developing countries and LDC’s, where 40% of tariff lines are between 0 and 5 per cent). Negotiating countries request maximum bound rates to be 15% Azerbaijan actively conducts negotiations on joining to Sectoral Initiatives, like ITA, Chemical Harmonization, Medical and Scientific Equipment, Paper, Civil Aircraft The main sectors in Services Negotiations are: Telecommunications, Financial Services, Transport, Business Services. In negotiations Azerbaijan is requested to take obligations that are currently discussed in Doha Negotiations.

6. 10/18/2015 6 Priorities and Strategic Goals Azerbaijan is seeking to accede to the WTO not just for image, but with the purposes to efficiently integrate into the global economy and use the WTO to promote its export potential in the non-oil sector Azerbaijan aims to become a WTO member as “developing country” status and attain benefits from incentives granted in WTO Agreements Azerbaijan seeks to attain 10% de minimis level in Agriculture To get appropriate policy space for market access negotiations in Agricultural Goods and NAMA To liberalize services sector ensuring financial stability, interests of local service providers and labour force

7. 10/18/2015 7 WTO Accession Process: Domestic Procedures  Inter-Ministerial Commission on accession of Azerbaijan to the WTO was created in August 2003 - Chairman of the Commission is a Minister of Economic Development - 2 deputies: Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs (also Chief WTO Negotiator) and Deputy Minister of Justice - the Commission consists of different Working Groups where experts of relevant Governmental Agencies (Ministry of Taxes, Finance, Agriculture, Industry and Energy, IT, Customs and Standardization Committee, Copyright Agency, etc.) are represented - As of today 11 meetings of the Commission were held  Azerbaijani Government adopted Legislative Action Plan (legal reforms package) in August 2006, to bring national legislation into conformity with WTO requirements. 18 normative legal acts have already been adopted out of 39 stated in Action Plan

8. 10/18/2015 8  www.wto.az  www.wto.az web-site has been created and is operated by Ministry of Economic Development www.wto.az  Regional seminars, round tables on WTO topics for entrepreneurs and researchers are held in regions, research institutions regularly  Enquiry Points on TBT (under State Committee for Standardization, Patent and Metrology), SPS (under Ministry of Agriculture) and GATS (under Ministry of Economic Development) have been already established  WTO Reference Centre is functioned in Azerbaijan State Economic University.

9. 10/18/2015 9 Contact details Foreign trade policy and WTO Department Division for WTO Accession Ministry of Economic Development of Azerbaijan Republic Address: Baku, House of Government E-mail: mirza.aliyev@economy.gov.az Tel: (+99412) 493 88 67 (ext.21-84)

10. 10/18/2015 10 Thank you for attention!