Proposal for a Council Decision establishing the position to be taken by the European Union within the General Council of the World Trade Organization on the accession of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the WTO

Members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the Republic of Kazkahstan have reached the concluding stage of an agreement on the terms for the accession of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the organization. This comes after 20 years of negotiations, which began when the Republic of Kazakhstan submitted its application to join the WTO in 1996.

In submitting the terms of Accession of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the WTO for approval by the Council, the Commission considers these terms as representing a balanced and ambitious package of market opening commitments, which will bring substantial benefits to the Republic of Kazakhstan and its WTO trading partners alike.

Multilateralism is at the heart of EU's trade policy and the EU supports the WTO accession of third countries on right terms. Consistent with the EU external action, the proposal will anchor Kazakhstan in the multilateral trading system and pave the way for the implementation of a new Partnership and Cooperation Agreement between Kazakhstan and the EU.

• Primary Source

EUR-Lex: COM(2015)322: Follow the progress of this proposal through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2015:322:FIN

---