14th CAREC Trade Policy Coordinating Committee Meeting

The meeting was opened by Bakhtiyar Alishov, head of the Foreign Trade Policy and World Trade Organization (WTO) Department of Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Economic Development, as he welcomed participants, highlighted the importance of the sector committee, and introduced the agenda.

Presentations were conducted and addressed topics on

• Kazakhstan’s experience relating to the impact of the Customs Union formation on external trade policies;
• potential impact of the Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan, and the Russian Federation with neighbors Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan;
• possible impact of the Union on CAREC’s trade facilitation program;
• developments and trends in CAREC countries’ trade;
• the knowledge-sharing program for the accession of CAREC countries to WTO; and
• country-specific plans and steps to further reduce institutional impediments to trade.

Participants represented the 10 CAREC member countries and those from the Asian Development Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank.