Kazakhstan is expected to join WTO in 2013: Director General

Kazakhstan may become a member of the WTO (World Trade Organization) in 2013, RIA Novosti writes citing WTO Director General Pascal Lamy. "Kazakhstan is currently at a quite advanced stage of negotiations on entering the WTO and I would suppose that Kazakhstan's jointing the WTO may be expected even this year," Lamy said on the sidelines of the Gaidar Forum in Russia. Earlier Kazakhstan Minister of Economic Integration Zhanar Aitzhanova said that Kazakhstan will complete its negotiations on accession into the WTO in the first half of 2013. “As for the WTO, we have completed all the bilateral negotiations with WTO member states. These are around 30 states. The negotiations were about access of their goods to the Kazakhstan’s markets; about maximum customs duty rates applicable following Kazakhstan’s accession into the organization; (…) As for the timeframe, we plan to complete all the negotiations in the first half of 2013,” Aitzhanova said.