WTO Director General Pascal Lamy says that Kazakhstan is close to joining the organization and has chances to become its member in 2013, RIA Novosti reports.
Belarus was behind Kazakhstan in the process, he added.
Russian membership in the WTO forces Belarus and Kazakhstan to follow many WTO rules, because the two are members of the Customs Union.
Lamy noted that Russia was no different from countries that had joined the organization in the past 10 years. Each new member will need time to start following the rules, the director general said.
