The project on support to the Ministry of Economy in the WTO Accession Negotiations held its Final Conference.

The project on support to the Ministry of Economy in the WTO Accession Negotiations held its Final Conference.

On 21 January 2020, final conference of the EU-funded project “Support and Strengthening Capacity of the WTO Department of the Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Azerbaijan in the WTO Accession Negotiations” took place.

 

The project started its activities on 23 January 2018. The project beneficiar was the Ministry of Economy, also several ministries, committees, and state agencies took part in the activities of the project. During two years of its activity, the project assisted the Government of Azerbaijan in improvement of the trade-related legislation and its compliance with WTO rules and the best international practices, provided assistance to the negotiating team in WTO accession negotiations, contributed to strengthening the institutional capacity of the Trade Policy and WTO Department of the Ministry of Economy, in particular in preparation for the WTO accession negotiations and raised public awareness on the WTO and trade-related issues. The project was implemented by the consortium consisting of DMI Associates (France) and Ekvita (Azerbaijan).

 

The final conference of the project was organized by EU delegation, DMI Associates and Ekvita to present the activities implemented and the results achieved by the project. Officials of the Government of Azerbaijan, including representatives of the Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, representatives of the European Union Delegation to Azerbaijan, private sector, academic institutions and several non-governmental organizations participated in the conference.

 

Representatives of the consortium, Ms. Celeste Van Den Broeck, Director of DMI Associates and Mr. Ilgar Mehti, Director of Ekvita opened the conference and welcomed the guests.  

 

Mr. Sahib Mammadov, Deputy Minister of Economy of the Republic of Azerbaijan, praised the continuous EU-Azerbaijan cooperation. He said that there was a solid legal framework for the bilateral economic relations to improve. Mr. Mammadov also referred to investment inflows from the EU and the bilateral relations between Azerbaijan and different EU member States. He gave a brief overview of the project’s work from the perspective of the Ministry of Economy and emphasized the significant work done in strengthening the capacity of the officials of the Ministry. 

 

Then the conference continued with speeches of Ambassador Mr. Kestutis Jankauskas, Head of the European Union Delegation to Azerbaijan; Ms. Maika Oshikawa, Director of Accessions Division of the WTO, Ms. Alicia Greenidge and Mr. Marius Bordalba, Team Leaders of the project during different periods; Mr. Ilkin Aliyev, key expert of the project; Mr. Laurent Manderieux, senior international expert on intellectual property rights, and Ms Aray Kassabekova, senior expert on trade in goods and former negotiator on Kazakshtan’s accession to the WTO.

 

More information about the activities of the project as well as all relevant information and documents concerning Azerbaijan’s WTO accession process can be accessed on our web portal. 

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