Belarus Expects to Become WTO Member in 2-3 Years

MINSK (Sputnik) – The Eastern European nation of Belarus expects to join the World Trade Organization (WTO) in the next two to three years, an official with the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ foreign economic activity department said Tuesday.

"There was a moment when our negotiations slowed down a little bit, but we are seeing their activation and we expect to complete this process in a reasonable time… The time frame is two to three years, maybe," Valery Kolesnik told reporters.

The WTO established its working party on Belarus’ accession in 1993 and held its first meeting four years later. A total of seven formal working party meetings have been held in 1997-2005, followed by five rounds of informal consultations in 2005-14.

Interaction between the World Trade Organization and Belarus activated last fall after Kazakhstan became the latest former Soviet republic to gain WTO membership on July 27, 2015.

The WTO regulates trade rules between member states globally. It provides goods and services producers, exporters and importers with a framework for negotiating trade agreements and settling disputes.