GENEVA: Kazakhstan has completed the negotiations needed to join the World Trade Organisation, the Geneva-based trade body said in a statement, and is on track to become the 162nd WTO member by the end of the year.

Kazakhstan has spent the entire life of the 20-year-old WTO trying to join the body, and its candidacy gathered pace after its neighbour and close trade partner Russia joined in 2012. Kazakhstan is part of the Eurasian Economic Union, a regional trade grouping that includes Russia, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan and Belarus and has common tariffs for imports from outside the bloc.

Discrepancies between its membership of the bloc, existing bilateral trade deals and the WTO membership terms agreed with Russia were the last main stumbling block, but a deal was finally agreed on Wednesday, the WTO said.

Published in Dawn, June 12th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play