A new EU-funded technical assistance project on WTO and trade policy starts its implementation
The EU-funded Framework Contract “Strengthening capacity of the Government of Azerbaijan in the WTO Accession negotiations and other trade related activities” started on 24 September 2020. Following the 1-month inception period, implementation of project activities began in early November 2020. The project is expected to continue until 24 November 2021 with an overall duration of 15 months.
The team in charge of the implementation of this project is composed by two long-term key experts on international and domestic trade policy and WTO accession, Mr. Marius Bordalba and Ms. Alida Mahmudova, and multiple short-term experts.
The project aims to strengthen trade policy and support the efforts of the Government of Azerbaijan in the ongoing WTO accession negotiations and other trade related activities. By supporting the Government of Azerbaijan in its trade policy reform efforts and the WTO accession negotiations, the project should ultimately contribute to the economic diversification and improvement of non-oil sector through trade led growth and integration in the multilateral trading system.
The specific purposes of the project activities include:
- improving trade related legislation,
- strengthening capacity of the Ministry of Economy on WTO and other trade-related matters,
- assisting Azerbaijan in the WTO accession negotiations,
- supporting the establishment and operationalization of the trade remedies unit, and
- raising public awareness on WTO and foreign trade related issues.
To achieve the above purposes, the project will:
- advise on the development of new trade-related legislation and improvement of the existing legislation,
- provide regular assistance to the Ministry of Economy on trade-related issues,
- support WTO accession negotiations,
- advise on the operationalization and capacity building of the trade remedies authority, and
- deliver public awareness events and prepare public awareness materials.
The project’s counterpart, and main beneficiary, is the Ministry of Economy. The project also supports other line ministries and agencies, including the Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Transport, Communications and High Technologies, State Customs Committee, Food Safety Agency, State Service for Antimonopoly and Consumer Market Control and Intellectual Property Agency, among others. Besides governmental bodies, the project also include activities for academic institutions and the private sector.
The experts of the project have started the implementation of assistance activities in several trade-related areas, including trade flow analysis, customs/trade facilitation, food safety and telecommunication services.
The project is implemented by DMI Associates (France) and Expertise Advisors (France), members of the COWI Consortium (Belgium).