Kazakhstan’s President suggests Russia holding joint negotiations to enter WTO

Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev has suggested Russia holding concerted negotiations with the USA and the EU on entering the WTO, RIA Novosti quoted him as saying at the sitting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council in Minsk, Belarus. “We are facing a barrier. We have been keeping pace with Russia, asking for the same level of protection [as Russia has asked for itself] (…) The only possibility [to accelerate accession] is to launch a joint Kazakh-Russian delegation to negotiate accession both with the EU and the USA that hamper us from entering the organization”, the President said, adding that Kazakhstan wouldn’t be able to work within the Customs Union with the level of protection suggested by the USA. Earlier Tengrinews.kz reported that Aleksei Likhachev, Russia’s Vice Minister of Economic Development, believes Kazakhstan is almost ready to enter the WTO and doesn’t exclude the country may accede to the WTO at the 9th WTO ministerial conference on Bali [to be held 3-6 December 2013].