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MINSK, 21 November (BelTA) – Belarus hopes to hold talks with the EU on the WTO accession in December 2016 – January 2017, Belarus’ Ambassador to Belgium with concurrent accreditation in Luxembourg, Belarus’ Permanent Representative in the EU and the NATO Alexander Mikhnevich told the media on 21 November.

The diplomat noted that meetings on WTO accession were held in Geneva. “We were shown to concrete technical flaws that should be addressed. There is no politics in here,” noted Alexander Mikhnevich.

In his words, the negotiations are currently entering a new level. “This means that they [EU] are ready to meet with us in December-January and discuss the whole thing. These are very positive signals,” the Ambassador said.

As for the visit of the Political and Security Committee of the EU Council to Belarus, Alexander Mikhnevich emphasized the importance of the body. “It includes representatives of all EU member states and encourages heads of state, ministers of foreign affairs, and other ministers to adopt concrete decisions. They have come to see the atmosphere in the country, hear from the head of state how the relations with the EU will be developing and what plans we have, express their concerns,” he said.

As was earlier informed, at the meeting with the delegation of the Political and Security Committee of the EU Council Alexander Lukashenko said that the EU may contribute to the strengthening of Belarus’ economic independence through removing restrictions in trade, providing access to the EU market for Belarusian goods, assisting the country in the development of its relations with the IMF, enhancing Belarus’ position in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) credit ratings, and intensifying talks on Belarus’ accession to the WTO.