Decision on Kazakhstan's decision to access WTO in December

The decision on Kazakhstan’s accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) may be taken at the WTO Ministerial Conference in December 2013, Trade Minister of the Eurasian Economic Commission (ECE) Andrei Slepnyov told Itar-Tass. “Kazakhstan’s accession is at the final stage. We hope that at the December WTO Ministerial Conference this process will be completed. Both Kazakhstan and Russia are making efforts for this,” he said. The previous, 8th WTO Ministerial Conference was held in Geneva in December 2011. Then it made a decision to admit to the WTO Russia, Samoa and Montenegro. Slepnyov expressed confidence that “the possibilities of Kazakhstan’s producers to work within the WTO framework and use all the tools and privileges of this membership will help them improve competitiveness, which will also significantly improve competitiveness of the Customs Union in general.” At the same time, he declined to talk about the possible risks for Russia and the Customs Union in connection with this decision, because “all the terms of accession are not yet clear.”