Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan applied for membership in the WTO in April 1996 (WT/ACC/KAZ/1) and circulated its Memorandum on the Foreign Trade Regime in September 1996 (WT/ACC/KAZ/3). Kazakhstan's Working Party met for the first time in March 1997. At the last meeting of the Working Party, held in July 2008, Members reviewed the revised draft Working Party report and identified remaining issues relating to Kazakhstan's compliance with WTO provisions. Kazakhstan outlined its legislative agenda to complete implementation of WTO provisions and indicated that it was prepared to address the outstanding issues that Members identified and move forward to make commitments.
By June 2009, both bilateral and multilateral negotiations for the terms of Kazakhstan’s WTO accession were well advanced, as was Kazakhstan's legislative implementation of WTO provisions. In that month, there was an announcement that Kazakhstan would join a Customs Union with Russia and Belarus. As a consequence, over the next two years, large portions of Kazakhstan’s trade regime were re-established under Customs Union legal instruments, most of its customs practices amended, and its tariffs adjusted to match those of the Customs Union. Kazakhstan continued to work bilaterally with WP members to complete its services market access negotiations and resolve specific issues of bilateral interest, but multilateral work was suspended.
In 2010 and 2011, Kazakhstan accelerated work on its bilateral negotiations with Members on market access for goods and services, and has signed bilateral market access agreements with most Working Party Members including the United States. The United States conducted bilateral consultations with Kazakhstan on market access and on WTO rules and other WP issues, in Geneva, in Washington, and by digital video conference (DVC). In addition to completing services negotiations, topics included sanitary measures applied to imports; certain formalities related to trade in meat, poultry, dairy and eggs; and specific legislative changes to its regime for the protection of intellectual property. The United States also has continued discussions on the effects of Kazakhstan’s Customs Union participation on bilateral trade. There will be additional bilateral discussions on multilateral issues prior to the next meeting of the Working Party.
As of late 2011, Kazakhstan is working with the WTO Secretariat to revise its draft Working Party report and provide updated documentation for WP review. The next Working Party meeting, expected during the first quarter of 2012, will review Kazakhstan’s new trade regime, identify issues where WTO conformity seems in doubt, note areas where additional commitments or other action may be necessary, and will review copies of the new legislation intended to implement its commitments. The United States actively participates in Kazakhstan's Working Party meetings.
The United States has provided comprehensive technical assistance (through USAID) from the very inception of Kazakhstan's accession process, in the form of a WTO advisor, resident in Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic, and a team of WTO experts on short term assignment for drafting documentation submitted to the WTO, training, legal drafting, and institution building in the areas of customs, licensing, intellectual property, standards and sanitary measures.