Belarus is satisfied with the progress in WTO accession talks, First Deputy Prime Minister Vasil Matsyusheuski says.
“We are satisfied with the course of these negotiations. In fact, in the nearest future we will harmonise our position with all major stakeholders, except for the United States,” state-run news agency quotes Matsyusheuski.
However, the top official stressed that the US had a position of its own, but he failed to go into detail. The Belarusian side is going to discuss it with them ‘additionally’, he added.
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. However, in 2016, Belarusian president Alyaksandr Lukashenka questioned the advantages of Belarus’ entering the World Trade Organisation. According to him, the WTO actually ‘exhausted itself’.
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