Kazakhstan is to enter the WTO by the end of the year: PM Massimov

Kazakhstan is at the final stage of the negotiations process to enter the WTO, Kazakhstan’s PM Karim Massimov said February 27 when speaking at the sitting of the Nur Otan fraction. He elaborated that the “Government is defending the most favorable conditions to develop the national economy following the accession with due consideration of all the obligations taken by Kazakhstan within the Customs Union of Kazakhstan, Russia and Belarus”. According to him, “the negotiations are to be completed by the end of the year”. “We have completed bilateral negotiations with 27 countries so far. Of course, the most important is that we have managed to finish negotiations with the U.S. and EU that are both traditionally the key for all the other countries and significantly affect the positions of other partner-countries,” Tengrinews.kz had quoted Vice-Minister of Economic Development and Trade Timur Suleimenov as saying January 31. According to Timur Suleimenov, the Ministry and the WTO Secretariat have developed a “roadmap” for Kazakhstan’s entry into the Organization that envisages completion of all the processes and procedures by the end of 2012.