Lithuanian experts shared their WTO accession experience in Belarus
On the 13th of February 2017 Lithuanian trade policy experts presented Lithuania's experience in the World Trade Organization accession negotiations to the representatives of governmental and academic institutions of the Republic of Belarus in the seminar organized by the European Commission in Minsk. The head of the EU delegation in Belarus ambassador A. Wiktorin stressed that this seminar is one of the first EU steps in assisting Belarus in their own accession process. The discussions were moderated by Belarus' lead accession negotiation ambassador V. Serpkov who pointed out that Lithuanian experience is of particular value to the Belarus both due to its close neighbourhood ties as well as due to the comparable structure of both countries' economies.
Mr. Raimondas Ališauskas (Lithuanian MFA Trade Policy Division) defined the general principles, process and requirements for the WTO acceding country, as well as the overall trends in this area. He has also presented the main legislative changed in the acceding countries legal system necessary for the accession process. Ms. Ieva Baršauskaitė has presented the history, process and outcomes of Lithuania's market access negotiations in the areas of goods and services. Ms. Baršauskaitė has also outlined the overall impact of Lithuania's WTO and the EU membership.
The discussion was attended by over a hundred of Belarus' officials from most of the governmental institutions directly linked to the countries' WTO accession process.
