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“The negotiations on Belarus’ accession to the World Trade Organization have been intensified pursuant to the instructions of the head of state and the government. The personnel capacities have been build up, and the proposals for access to the markets of goods and services have been updated,” the review reads.

The ministry pointed out that Belarus’ efforts to reinvigorate the negotiation process have been supported by most of the WTO member states. Having reviewed the documents submitted by Belarus, the WTO Secretariat issued a draft report of the working party on the accession of Belarus to WTO in December. The draft will serve as the basis for holding a full round of negotiations in January 2017,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs noted.

“The issuing of a draft report attests to a high degree of readiness of a candidate country for the final phase of multilateral negotiations,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

The review also points to the intensification of the cooperation with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on a new IMF program for Belarus, which is the result of the systemic foreign policy efforts of the past several years.