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Kazakhstan hopes to become full-fledged WTO member before year end - president

Two issues related with tariff harmonization amid Kazakhstan’s entry in the WTO remain unsettled in talks

ASTANA, May 04 /ITAR-TASS/. Kazakhstan hopes to gain the status of a full-fledged member state of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) already this year, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said, opening a meeting of the Asian Bank Board of Governors here on Sunday.

“Kazakhstan’s entry talks in the WTO are about to be finalised. We hope to gain the status of a full-fledged WTO member state already this year,” Nazarbayev noted.

Kazakhstan’s accession to the WTO envisages completion of negotiations on four trends, republican Deputy Minister of Economy and Budget Planning Timur Zhaksylykov said earlier, referring to bilateral talks on commodities, services, agriculture and systemic issues. Presently talks on all these trends are almost completed, Zhaksylykov said.

“Two issues related with tariff harmonization amid Kazakhstan’s entry in the WTO remain unsettled in talks,” Zhaksylykov said. He added that the republic had a common understanding with the negotiating countries how these problems would be solved.

Kazakhstan has first voiced an intention to become a WTO member state in 1993. The republic expects that access of Kazakh commodities on WTO states’ markets will be simplified considerably.

Amendments in the legislation envisaging several preferences to investors will be introduced in Kazakhstan this year, Nazarbayev added. “We intend to create a maximum favourable investment climate in Kazakhstan. We will enact a new law improving investment legislation for this purpose this year,” he said.

He noted that active attraction of foreign and domestic investors “lays foundations for economic modernisation in the country.” “We plan to exempt investors from corporate income tax for ten years, introduce investment subsidies and ensure stability of legislation and predictability of tariffs and facilitate delivery of foreign manpower,” the president said.

He also noted that the work with investors would be done according to the one-stop principle. Meanwhile, the republic plans to create an institute of investment ombudsman. The Kazakh president has earlier urged the government to create “a paradise for investors” in the republic. “If we want as we said to create a paradise for investors, let’s create it,” he stated.