Azerbaijani Government officials completed 3 study visits to the WTO, Turkey and Kazakhstan
Fifteen Azerbaijani Government officials – serving at the Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, State Service for Antimonopoly and Consumer Market Control, State Customs Committee, Intellectual Property Agency, Azerbaijan Food Safety Agency and Agrarian Research Center under the Ministry of Agriculture – have participated in three trade-related study visits. These study visits have been co-organised with, and supported by, the EU-funded "Strengthening capacity of the Government of Azerbaijan in the WTO Accession negotiations and other trade related activities".
The study visit to the WTO took place between April 27-29, 2022. Azerbaijani officials met with WTO officials in the WTO. Meetings covered multiple areas, including subsidies, technical barriers to trade, sanitary and phytosanitary, intellectual property, services and trade facilitation. In addition, officials attended an informal meeting of the TBT Committee, the Working Party meeting on the accession of Timor Leste and an Experience-sharing round table with former accession negotiators of Kazakhstan, Russia and the United States. Finally, officials met with the Director of the Accessions Division of the WTO and her team. This session served to discuss current issues related to the accession negotiations of Azerbaijan. During the same trip, two Members of the Azerbaijani Delegation met in Bern with officials from the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office, and Federal Office for Agriculture. Issues discussed included the operation of the TBT and SPS enquiry points and market access of Azerbaijani foodstuffs to Switzerland. This visit helped develop the cooperation between relevant authorities of both countries.
The study visit to Turkey took place from May 9-13, 2022. This visit was focused on trade defence matters (anti-dumping, countervailing and safeguard measures). The purpose of the activity was for the Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the State Service for Antimonopoly and Consumer Market Control under the Ministry of Economy to learn about the implementation of trade defence instruments in Turkey. The Turkish experience will be useful to complete the operationalisation of the trade defence unit within the State Antimonopoly Service. Meetings were held with the Ministry of Trade, including the Turkish investigating authority, the Competition Authority, other quasi-governmental bodies, and business support organisations and companies that are frequent users of trade defence. The meetings with the private sector representatives emphasised the need for companies and their representative organisations to take the lead in applying for trade defence remedial actions and to cooperate with the investigating authority by submitting adequate information.
The study visit to Kazakhstan took place from May 16-18, 2002. Meetings with Ministries and other bodies of the Government of Kazakhstan aimed to understand the process of implementation of Kazakhstan’s WTO commitments, including changes to the regulatory framework and related institutional reforms. Participants were particularly interested to know which measures have been adopted by the Government of Kazakhstan to protect the interests of domestic industries and learn about the economic impact of WTO accession.
