Commission

Establishment and composition

In order to accelerate the process of WTO membership, the Commission on preparation of Azerbaijan’s accession to the Organisation was established on the basis of Order of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Azerbaijan No. 175s dated August 22, 2003. The Cabinet of Ministers approved the new members of the Commission through Order No. 821s, dated December 27, 2019:

 

Head of the Commission:

  • Mr. Shahin Mustafayev - Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Azerbaijan

 

Members of the Commission: 

  • Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan
  • Deputy Minister of Justice of the Republic of Azerbaijan
  • Deputy Minister of Economy of the Republic of Azerbaijan
  • Deputy Minister of Finance of the Republic of Azerbaijan
  • Deputy Minister of Energy of the Republic of Azerbaijan
  • Deputy Minister of Transport, Communications and High Technologies of the Republic of Azerbaijan
  • Deputy Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources of the Republic of Azerbaijan
  • Deputy Minister of Agriculture of the Republic of Azerbaijan
  • Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Protection of Population of the Republic of Azerbaijan
  • Deputy Minister of Health of the Republic of Azerbaijan
  • Deputy Minister of Education of the Republic of Azerbaijan
  • Deputy Minister of Culture of the Republic of Azerbaijan
  • Chairman of the State Customs Committee of the Republic of Azerbaijan
  • Chairman of the State Statistics Committee of the Republic of Azerbaijan
  • Chairman of the State Tourism Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan
  • Chairman of the Food Safety Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan
  • Deputy Head of Central Bank of the Republic of Azerbaijan
  • Head of the Foreign Economic Relations Department of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Azerbaijan
  • Chairman of the Intellectual Property Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan
  • Director General of the Azerbaijan Standardization Institute
  • Head of Trade Policy and World Trade Organization Department of the Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Secretary of the Commission

 

Working groups

There are 6 Working Groups ("WG") under the Commission:

  1. WG on Services
  2. WG on Goods
  3. WG on Domestic Support in Agriculture
  4. WG on Legislative Analysis
  5. WG on Intellectual Property issues
  6. WG on Technical Barriers to Trade and Sanitary and Phytosanitary issues

 

Meetings of the Commission 

1st meeting – October 7, 2003

At the meeting, decisions on the following were adopted:

  • Establishment of the Secretariat and 9 working groups on different areas falling under the responsibility of the Commission
  • Adoption of the heads and structure of working groups
  • Adoption of the Action Plan on different activities in the direction of accession to the WTO
  • Approval of the concept of Azerbaijan’s accession to the WTO
  • Organization of meetings of working groups separately
  • Creation of the Negotiating Team

 

2nd meeting – June 21, 2004

At the meeting, decisions on the following were adopted:

  • Approval of the WTO Schedule on Domestic Support and Exports Subsidies in Agriculture
  • Approval of the WTO Schedule on Technical Barriers in Trade and Sanitary and Phytosanitary issues
  • Approval of the WTO Schedule on Trade related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights
  • Approval of the replies on questions received from members of the Working Group on Azerbaijan at the WTO Secretariat
  • Approval of the translated version (into English) of the goods offer of Azerbaijan
  • Decision to submit approved documents to the WTO Secretariat

 

3rd meeting – February 22, 2005

At the meeting, decision on the following were adopted:

  • To accelerate work on the preparation of relevant documents for submission to the WTO Secretariat

 

4th meeting – April 22, 2005

At the meeting, decisions on the following were adopted:

  • Approval of the possible maximum applied level of the import customs duties
  • Approval of offer on services and the relevant WTO schedule
  • Approval of the revised WTO Schedule on Domestic Support and Exports Subsidies in Agriculture
  • Approval of the replies on new questions from the WTO members
  • Decision on contacting the WTO Secretariat regarding the organization of 3rd meeting of the Working Party on Azerbaijan

 

5th meeting – January 31, 2006

At the meeting, decisions on the following were adopted:

  • Approval of the replies on new questions from the WTO members
  • Approval of the Plan on Improvement of Legislation
  • Approval of the revised WTO Schedule on Domestic Support and Exports Subsidies (ACC/4) in Agriculture
  • Approval of the replies on questions regarding the revised WTO Schedule on Domestic Support and Exports Subsidies (ACC/4) in Agriculture
  • Approval of the revised version of possible maximum applied level of the import customs duties
  • Approval of revised offer on services
  • Approval of the composition of the specialized Negotiating Team

 

6th meeting – May 26, 2006

At the meeting, decisions on the following were adopted:

  • Approval of the report of the delegation about the visit to Geneva
  • Approval of reports on the work done by the working groups under the Commission
  • Discussion of a number of issues after the Working Party meeting and assignments to the relevant working groups under the Commission
  • Adoption of the decision on the establishment of new working groups and changing the responsibilities of groups in accordance with the changes in composition of groups, as well as in accordance with the negotiation process
  • The necessary instructions to the working groups on preparation of brochures on accession process of Azerbaijan
  • Activation of the process of adoption of the documents under the discussion (accession strategy, Statute of the Commission)
  • Adoption of the Work Plan for the next period

 

7th meeting – February 27, 2007

At the meeting, decisions on the following were adopted:

  • Conducting bilateral negotiations with Members submitted requests on goods and services to Azerbaijan before 5th meeting of the Working Party
  • Completion of preparatory work on organization of the next meeting of the Working Party
  • Involving the private sector, non-governmental organisations, professional associations and academia in the accession process
  • Conducting negotiations with donor organizations for providing necessary technical and financial support to the process of Azerbaijan’s accession to the WTO
  • Preparation of the work plan for implementation of Action Plan on bringing the national legislation into conformity with the WTO requirements
  • Preparation of revised offer on goods

 

8th meeting – June 6, 2007

At the meeting, decisions on the following were adopted:

  • Establishment of the sub-working groups on goods, services, legislation and subsidies under the Commission and approval of the groups’ composition
  • Preparation of the proposals during 20 days with the aim to provide the drafts from the Action Plan on bringing the national legislation into conformity with the WTO requirements as packages “WTO-1” and “WTO-2”
  • Translation into English and international expertise of drafts of normative-legal documents in the Action Plan on bringing the national legislation into conformity with the WTO requirements
  • With the aim of public awareness on accession process, creation of the web-page www.wto.az
  • Preparation of proposals for the activation of process of bilateral and multilateral negotiations
  • Completion in 2 months the process of preparation of proposals on maximum level of import customs duties

 

9th meeting – November 21, 2007

At the meeting, decisions on the following were adopted:

  • Adoption of the proposal of State Customs Committee on maximum level of flexibility for the bilateral negotiations on goods
  • Preparation of the revised offer on goods for the bilateral negotiations taking into account maximum flexibility level
  • The necessary efforts to obtain the developing country status, or, carrying out necessary activities to obtain maximum flexibilities for the priority areas (if request for “developing country” status will not be accepted)
  • Priorities and transition periods for joining to sectoral initiatives
  • Approval the period 2005-2007 years as a base period for subsidization in agriculture
  • Conducting negotiations on domestic support in agriculture with the aim to obtain a 10% de minimis level

 

10th meeting – July 4, 2008

At the meeting, decisions on the following were adopted:

  • Preparation of revised version of tables on domestic support in agriculture no later than September 2008
  • Preparation and submitting of replies on Members’ new questions no later than September 
  • Completion of work envisaged in the Action Plan on bringing the national legislation into conformity with the WTO requirements in shortest possible time
  • With the aim to bring the national legislation into conformity with the WTO requirements preparation and submitting to the Cabinet of Ministers the draft Resolution on Additional Action Plan
  • Improvement and submitting no later than August bilateral offers on goods and services 
  • Preparation within 20 days the lists of strategically important for Azerbaijan agricultural and industrial goods

 

11th meeting – February 5, 2010

At the meeting, decisions on the following were adopted:

  • Improvement and submitting no later than 1st quarter of 2010 bilateral offers on goods and services 
  • Taking into consideration the results of latest bilateral negotiations conducting consultations with the relevant agencies on different services areas, including, financial, audiovisual, energy and other strategically important areas
  • With the aim to submit for the next round of negotiations joint discussion by the Ministries of Economic Development, Ecology and Natural Recourses, Agriculture, Foreign Affairs and State Customs Committee and preparation within 15 days justified proposals on revised tariff offers for some agricultural and fishery goods
  • Activation of the process of implementation of Action Plan on bringing the national legislation into conformity with the WTO requirements