At the meeting of the Working Party, the Kazakh delegation was led by Her Excellency Minister Zhanar Aitzhanova, Minister of Economic Integration. Members supported the intensification of work so as to deliver Kazakhstan’s accession to the WTO by the 9th Ministerial Conference in December 2013. The Russian Federation underlined the imperative to complete Kazakhstan’s accession and called for the Working Party to establish a timeline for completion, as was the case for Russia’s accession.

The Working Party reviewed the draft report of the Working Party and identified areas for further improvements. Members took stock of the state of play of the bilateral market access negotiations on services and goods. Members also reviewed the legislative developments and noted that Kazakhstan — in its revised Legislative Action Plan — listed all legislation to be adopted upon its accession as well as a complete set of legislation already in force.

The chairman of the Working Party reminded the delegations that if the Working Party aims to conclude the draft accession package of Kazakhstan for formal adoption at the Ministerial Conference, the major parts of the draft package must emerge by the end of July.

“Time is of the essence. Collectively, we need to build on the progress under way, redouble our efforts and focus on tying up the remaining loose ends as quickly as possible,” said the Chairman. The WTO Secretariat has been assigned a key facilitation responsibility to assist the completion of  Kazakhstan’s accession.

 

Background information

• Application received on 29 January 1996
• Working Party established on 6 February 1996
• Working Party Chairperson: H.E. Mr Vesa Himanen (Finland)
• Working Party Secretary: Mr Dayong Yu
• Director of the Accessions Division: Mr Chiedu Osakwe