Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 16 July (BelTA) - Technical work on the accession of Belarus to the WTO can take a year, Belarus’ Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Alexander Guryanov told reporters, BelTA has learned.

Work is already underway in Belarus. "We have already received a signal from the WTO Secretariat that they are ready to devote more time to the Belarusian issue", he said.

According to him, everyone understands that it is not entirely correct to keep one country, which is party to such a large integration association as the Eurasian Economic Union, out of the World Trade Organization. "We continue holding bilateral negotiations with a number of countries and hope that the working groups on Belarus’ accession will intensify their work," said Alexander Guryanov.

When asked about when Belarus may possibly join the WTO, he said: "There is a lot of paperwork. If all goes right, if politics does not interfere, then we will do the technical work in a year. And then everything will depend on the political currents, the key players.”

Alexander Guryanov noted that all participants of the Eurasian Economic Union are WTO members but for Belarus. “Kazakhstan has completed the talks but the accession process has not yet been formalized. There are some issues as to Kazakhstan’s obligations before the WTO and the EEU. There are issues, and we are going to have serious discussions at the level of the Eurasian Economic Commission,” he added.