To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the progress of negotiations on the potential accession of Belarus to the World Trade Organisation.
Answered on
8 March 2017
Belarus resumed WTO membership negotiations in January 2017 when the WTO Working Party on the country’s accession met for the first time in 12 years. Belarus emphasised that moving forward with WTO accession is a priority for the country in 2017. It has concluded bilateral market access agreements with 10 WTO members to date.
Although a core member of the Eurasian Economic Union, the dividends that Belarus must reasonably have hoped to gain from its membership have not materialised. Trade amongst the EEU countries has fallen: by 11% in 2014 and by 25% in 2015.