The Belarusian delegation led by Deputy Prime Minister Alyaksandr Turchyn is taking part in meetings on the accession of Belarus to the World Trade Organization in Geneva.
Mr Turchin is scheduled to meet with WTO Director General Roberto Azevedo, Deputy Director General Alan Wolff and head of Belarus’ Working Party, Ambassador Kemal Madenoglu of Turkey, state-run news agency BelTA reports.
Belarus’ Working Party will convene for the 12th meeting on July, 11.
The World Trade Organisation (WTO) is the only global international organisation dealing with the rules of trade between nations. At its heart are the WTO agreements, negotiated and signed by the bulk of the world’s trading nations and ratified in their parliaments. The goal is to ensure that trade flows as smoothly, predictably and freely as possible.
Belarus’ Working Party on the accession to WTO was established on 27 October 1993. Belarus is the only European country that is not a member of it. In 2016, Belarusian president Alyaksandr Lukashenka questioned the advantages of Belarus’ entering the World Trade Organization. According to him, the WTO actually ‘exhausted itself’.
In November 2018, Belarusian Prime Minister Syarhei Rumas said that Belarus might complete the process of joining the World Trade Organization by 2020.
