General satisfaction at the closure meeting of the EU-funded trade policy project
On July 24, 2022, after almost two years of work, the EU-funded "Strengthening capacity of the Government of Azerbaijan in the WTO Accession negotiations and other trade related activities” project ended.
During the closing meeting held on July 20, the representatives of the Ministry of Economy, the project’s counterpart, and of beneficiary institutions such as the State Service for Antimonopoly and Consumer Market Control, State Customs Committee, Food Safety Agency and Agrarian Research Center under the Ministry of Agriculture expressed their satisfaction with the implementation of the project and results achieved. Furthermore, the representative of the EU Delegation to Azerbaijan expressed the EU's gratitude to the Ministry of Economy and other beneficiaries for their interest and cooperation with the project.
Main activities implemented by the project:
- Led eleven interventions involving the preparation of draft normative acts and/or review of existing or draft legislation
- Funded and co-organised the first one-week summer school on trade policy and WTO, with the participation of 20 students and young professionals
- Presented capacity-building events for Government officials and private sector representatives involving more than 175 participants
- Implemented 5 study visits in Switzerland (WTO and Bern) and Kazakhstan, with the participation of 21 Governmental officials
- Provided on-demand assistance to the Trade Policy and WTO Department of the Ministry of Economy
- Supported bilateral WTO accession negotiations
- Visibility of the project includes 20 public awareness materials, in particular, brochures, booklets, leaflets, articles, a research paper, two videos and a bilingual (Azerbaijani-English) glossary with approximately 400 trade-related terms and definitions
- Developed and installed a digital platform to facilitate stakeholders’ participation in trade defence investigations and increase transparency
- During the 2022 EU-Azerbaijan Business Forum, presented a comment to the EU Business Climate Report Azerbaijan 2021 6th Annual Edition on the relationship between trade rules, WTO accession/membership and the strengthening of rule of law. The replies of EU business presented in the Business Climate Report show that they continue to regard Azerbaijan’s WTO accession as one of the key economic actions for the country to take
- Prepared new content for the www.wto.az web portal, including 32 news items
Through the support provided by the Trade Policy Project, the following results have been achieved:
- Contributed to the operationalisation of the Anti-dumping investigations sector – the office that will conduct trade remedy investigations within the State Service for Antimonopoly and Consumer Market Control
- Strengthened the capacity of the Ministry of Economy and other Governmental entities in the preparation and coordination of trade-related activities, including WTO accession negotiations
- Increased awareness of trade-related matters, including WTO membership obligations and benefits
- Supported the development of new trade-related legislation and/or the review of existing/draft normative acts in line with WTO rules and best international practices
- Assisted the Azerbaijani negotiating team to prepare for the next working party meeting, plurilateral and bilateral WTO accession negotiations
The Trade Policy Project had a budget of almost EUR800,000. Seven hundred work-days have been implemented. Despite the COVID19 pandemic, approximately 50% of the work-days were implemented by experts in Azerbaijan. The project has been implemented by DMI Associates, a member of the COWI Consortium.
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The team leader, Marius Bordalba, said: “The Government of Azerbaijan actively works to develop and implement a multi-pronged and modern trade policy agenda. On the domestic front, normative acts such as the Law "On Food Safety" have been adopted. Efforts to strengthen newly created institutions continued. On the international front, negotiations for a trade and investment chapter in the new EU-Azerbaijan Agreement are expected to conclude later this year. This agreement will reinforce and give a new impetus to the domestic reform agenda and, hopefully, will trigger a decision to accelerate the WTO accession negotiations. In direct cooperation with the Ministry of Economy, other line ministries and agencies of the Government of Azerbaijan, the project has actively supported a large number of key initiatives for the benefit of the private sector and Azerbaijani consumers.” |
To access information and public materials produced under this project, click on the following link: https://wto.az/saheler/texniki-yardim-ve-potensialin-guclendirilmesi-layiheleri/
Picture of the closing meeting:
