After two years break, Azerbaijan will hold next round of multilateral talks on entrance to the World Trade Organization (WTO).

The multilateral talks of Azerbaijan Government with the working group will take place on 6 May in Geneva, Azerbaijan’s Ambassador to Switzerland, Elchin Amirbeyov, reported to TrendNews on 26 April.

The dates of the talks have been repeatedly changed. Each year the requirements for the WTO candidate countries are toughened up. Therefore, the Government intends to maximally accelerate this process, but is should take place considering the interests of the country. Azerbaijan tries to join the WTO under status of developing country because it will enable to gain 10% access to subsidies for agriculture.

The negotiation group of Azerbaijan headed by the Deputy Foreign Minister Mahmud Mammadguliyev will hold talks in Geneva this week within United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. Bilateral talks were held with the WTO member-countries who asked to hold meetings with Azerbaijan. They include India, Sri Lanka, Korea, and Norway. These countries raised questions with regards to various spheres, and trade regime, the Ambassador said.

“Azerbaijan is expected to sign several bilateral protocols with several countries after the talks have been completed with them. They are Sudan, India, and UAE,” he said.

Currently Azerbaijan is holding talks with the USA, European Union, South Korea, Japan, and China’s Province of Taiwan.

In addition, Azerbaijan completed talks with Turkey, Georgia, Oman, Moldova and UAE, with the protocol being signed only with Turkey.

The key requirement of the WTO member-countries is to liberalize various markets. However, Azerbaijan tries to maintain protection elements for 8-10 sectors, including banking, insurance, telecommunication, and energy markets.