Minister Šarović at final negotiations on BiH's accession to the World Trade Organization

GENEVA; (Patria) - Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations Mirko Šarović is staying in Geneva today and tomorrow for final negotiations on BiH's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Bilateral negotiations will be held with Brazil, Ukraine, and Russia, and all remaining key conditions for accession to the WTO have been met, the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of BiH announced.

A WTO delegation led by the Ambassador of Bulgaria to the WTO in Geneva and the Chairman of the WTO Working Group for BiH, Atanas Paparizov, recently visited our country where he met with Šarović, and the delegation assessed that our country has made great progress recently on the path to full membership in the WTO.

- We have already given a final offer to Ukraine and Brazil, and we no longer see any obstacles there. As for Russia, we will submit the prepared Decision on the quality of liquid petroleum fuels to the procedure these days, and inform the Russian side about it, which should be sufficient at this moment - stated Minister Šarović.

Minister Šarović emphasized that "he expects a positive opinion from the entities on the Decision, so that it can be adopted very quickly by the Council of Ministers of BiH".

The WTO delegation assessed that BiH has made great progress recently in negotiations and meeting the conditions for WTO membership, particularly highlighting Minister Šarović's commitment.

- Minister Šarović's commitment to this process has led to the fact that we can now say that BiH's accession to the World Trade Organization is very close, and from that side, BiH will have our full support - stated Ambassador Paparizov.

Working Group meetings in Geneva will be held today and tomorrow, and in May, and Paparizov expressed optimism that the final decision on BiH's full membership in the WTO will be made at the end of July this year.