Kazakhstan joins WTO

Today the General Council of the World Trade Organization has approved the draft decision on the adoption of Kazakhstan into the ranks of the WTO. The ceremony was held at the organization's headquarters in Geneva in the presence of President Nursultan Nazarbayev.

"Kazakhstan joining the WTO is an important step in the country's integration into the global economy, the global trading system. It will be a new step for the country's greater versatility that extends the functions of the WTO as a stable system of the world economy,’’ RIA Novosti cites the Director General of the World Trade Organization Roberto Azevedo.

Nursultan Nazarbayev, in his turn, said that joining the WTO is a historic event for Kazakhstan and thanked the member countries of the WTO, the secretariat of the organization and Roberto Azevedo for their support during the negotiations. 

Earlier, the chief editor of the magazine World of Eurasia, Eduard Poletayev, told Vestnik Kavkaza that Kazakhstan aims to improve its trading potential, positioning itself as a country with a market economy. 

"The Kazakh government considers membership of the WTO as a very important factor for access of Kazakh products to the world markets. This increases its competitiveness, and generally develops Kazakhstan's business, including an increase in foreign investment. Kazakhstan’s logic is simple: the country is locked in the middle of the Eurasian continent. It has no outlet to the sea, logistics reduce the competitiveness of products. The latter problem can be solved by means of joining the WTO," the expert noted.