Kazakhstan to become full WTO member in December 2015
ASTANA. June 22 (Interfax) - Kazakhstan will become a full member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) this December, the Secretariat of the country's Economic Integration Ministry has said.
"Today [...] the member states of the working group on Kazakhstan's WTO accession approved a final package of accession documents at its final session. Once all necessary procedures are complete, Kazakhstan will become a full member of the international organization, which regulates 98% of all global trade, in December this year," the secretariat said in a statement released on Monday.
At the working group's session, key WTO members such as the United States, the European Union, Russia, China, India, Japan and South Korea, that are Kazakhstan's big investors and main trade partners, praised the reforms conducted by the republic in order to align its laws with WTO regulations.
The necessary changes and amendments were made to more than 50 national laws of Kazakhstan, including those on currency regulation, price formation and competition development; fiscal policy; customs regulation; import licensing; and the application of product safety measures, including technical regulation, as well as sanitary and veterinary measures; and the protection of intellectual property rights.
The negotiating process over Kazakhstan's WTO accession was accompanied by the country's efforts to create a customs union with Russia and Belarus.
"As a result of very difficult talks, Kazakhstan was able to agree on the obligations which take the country's long-term economic development interests into account," the spokesperson said.
Joining the WTO will help attract direct foreign investment in Kazakhstan's economy, boost closer trade and economic relations between Kazakhstan and other countries and create a stable and predictable environment for competitive business within the country, the secretariat said.