Mikayil Jabbarov, Minister of Economy, led the high-level delegation of the Government of Azerbaijan in Geneva for the first Working Party meeting held since July 2017. The delegation also included senior government officials and experts from a range of ministries and government agencies as well as representatives of industry and academia.

Minister Jabbarov noted that WTO accession continues to be one of the main goals in the implementation of Azerbaijan’s current trade priorities, with steps being taken to promote economic diversification. His government aimed at adapting Azerbaijan's trade legislation to international trade principles and implementing progressive reforms consistent with WTO rules, he said.

Updating members on the numerous reforms undertaken by the government over the past years, Minister Jabbarov said: “We think that these steps will lead to the achievement of important successes in the direction of ensuring a stable economy, accelerating the integration of Azerbaijan into the global economy, fulfilling international obligations, as well as without doubt the successful implementation of the WTO accession agenda.”

In preparation for the meeting of the Working Party, Azerbaijan submitted replies to the questions raised by members, a revised legislative action plan, information on agricultural domestic support, and information on the status of privatization of enterprises. A draft Working Party Report, prepared by the WTO Secretariat on the basis of the inputs provided by Azerbaijan, formed the basis for the technical discussions at the meeting.

Azerbaijan reported that five bilateral market access agreements have been concluded with Georgia, Türkiye, Oman, the United Arab Emirates and the Kyrgyz Republic. Azerbaijan is negotiating bilaterally with another 22 interested members on market access for goods and services.

WTO Deputy Director-General Xiangchen Zhang underlined that Azerbaijan has worked hard and invested precious resources to get its accession negotiations to this relatively advanced stage. “I am particularly happy to see that the Working Party is meeting again after six years. I hope that delegations will use today's meeting as an opportunity to resume, reset and refocus.”

“Restarting a complex endeavour such as WTO accession is never easy. We should not underestimate therefore the effort and determination shown by Azerbaijan. I trust that today marks the beginning of a very active phase of work, which will ultimately lead to the conclusion of Azerbaijan's accession process,” added DDG Zhang.

Azerbaijan's accession process began in 1997 and the Working Party met for the first time in 2002. Steady progress was registered until the most recent Working Party meeting, which was held in July 2017.

“It is my hope that today's Working Party meeting would inject fresh momentum in Azerbaijan's accession process, which is now in its 26th year, and set the tone for another active phase in our work,” said the chair of the Working Party, Ambassador Alparslan Acarsoy of Türkiye.

“As always in WTO accession negotiations, the acceding government will need to drive the process and provide direction to the Working Party. In fact, adherence to well-defined targets, timely submission of technical inputs, and pro-active and sustained high-level political engagement on the part of Azerbaijan will be central to this process. I have no doubt that for their part, WTO members would be very supportive of such a scenario and would do their best to engage constructively with the delegation of Azerbaijan,” added Ambassador Acarsoy.

Ambassador Acarsoy also referred to his recent visit to Baku on 27-28 April where he held a series of high-level meetings to discuss the resumption of the activities of the Working Party and to take stock of recent accession-related developments in Azerbaijan.

Members commended the work done by Azerbaijan and encouraged the Azerbaijani delegation to keep working in order to make substantial progress between this and any future Working Party meetings. Delegations underlined the frank and constructive exchanges with Azerbaijan in the hope that the 15th Working Party marks a decisive step in a renewed commitment to the accession process that aligns Azerbaijan's policies with the multilateral trading system.

Next steps

On the multilateral front, the chair said that, after reviewing all sections of the draft Working Party Report, additional inputs will need to be provided by Azerbaijan to fill the gaps identified. A new set of questions and replies will be circulated as a consolidated document for consideration at the next meeting. The Secretariat will revise the draft Report accordingly. Azerbaijan was also invited to submit updated draft subsidies notifications, a questionnaire on state trading, and supporting tables on domestic support to agriculture.

On the bilateral front, Azerbaijan was encouraged to continue pursuing bilateral market access negotiations with interested members on the basis of revised offers. The chair stressed the critical importance of advancing work on this front, which is lagging behind the multilateral work.

Concerning legislation, the chair asked Azerbaijan to update its legislative action plan and to keep the Working Party regularly informed of legislative developments by submitting translated copies of any new WTO-related legislation so that members have an up-to-date picture of the ongoing legislative reforms.

The chair left open the date of the next Working Party meeting. A specific date will emerge in consultation with delegations and the Secretariat once the new inputs have been received.