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Kazakhstan may join WTO this year: WTO chief Lamy
World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General Pascal Lamy attends a press conference after a general meeting at the OECD headquarters in Paris October 29, 2012.
Credit: Reuters/Bertrand Langlois/Pool
MOSCOW |
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Kazakhstan may join the World Trade Organisation this year, WTO director general Pascal Lamy said on Thursday.
"Kazakhstan is at an advanced stage of its accession negotiation. My guess is that this could be doable this year," he told reporters on the sidelines of the Gaidar Forum, an economic conference in Moscow.
Kazakhstan applied to join the WTO in 1996. The oil-rich Central Asian state is one of the few countries in the world that remains outside the international trading club. Membership is expected to boost the Kazakh economy by opening it to foreign investors.
Kazakhstan's neighbor Russia was admitted to the WTO last August after 18 years of negotiations.
Lamy played down suggestions that Russia's WTO membership was not proceeding smoothly, following signs over recent months of possible trade disputes with the European Union, Russia's major trading partner.
"We don't judge results of a WTO accession that lasted 18 years in six months. Time will say whether or not it worked," he said.
(Reporting by Maya Dyakina; Writing by Jason Bush; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)
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Sample of other “Presidents” of “former” USSR republics and their political affiliation before the “collapse”:
Armenia:
Levon Ter-Petrossian – October 16, 1991 – February 3, 1998, Communist.
Robert Kocharyan – February 4, 1998 – April 9, 2008, Communist.
Serzh Azati Sargsyan – April 9, 2008 – Present, Communist.
Azerbaijan:
Ayaz Niyazi oğlu Mütallibov – October 30, 1991 – March 6, 1992, Communist.
Abulfez Elchibey – June 16, 1992 – September 1, 1993, not Communist.
Heydar Alirza oglu Aliyev – June 24, 1993 – October 31, 2003, Communist.
Ilham Heydar oglu Aliyev (Son of third President) – October 31, 2003 – Present, Communist.
Belarus:
Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko – July 20, 1994 – Present, Communist.
Kyrgyzstan:
Askar Akayevich Akayev – October 27, 1990 – March 24, 2005, Communist.
Ishenbai Duyshonbiyevich Kadyrbekov – March 24, 2005 – March 25, 2005 (Interim), Communist.
Kurmanbek Saliyevich Bakiyev – March 25, 2005 – April 15, 2010, Communist.
Roza Isakovna Otunbayeva – April 7, 2010 – December 1, 2011 Communist.
Almazbek Sharshenovich Atambayev – December 1, 2011 – Present, Communist.
Moldova:
Mircea Ion Snegur – September 3, 1990 – January 15, 1997, Communist.
Petru Chiril Lucinschi – January 15, 1997 – April 7, 2001, Communist.
Vladimir Nicolaevici Voronin – April 7 2001 – September 11, 2009, Communist.
Mihai Ghimpu – September 11, 2009 – December 28, 2010 (Acting), not Communist.
Vlad Filat – December 28, 2010 – 30 December 2010 (Acting), not Communist.
Marian Lupu – December 30, 2010 – Present (Acting), Communist. 1988.
Russia:
Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin – July 10, 1991 – December 31, 1999 – Communist.
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin – 31 December 1999 – 7 May 2000 (Acting) and May 7, 2000 – May 7, 2008 – Communist.
Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev – May 7, 2008 – May 7, 2012, during his studies at the University he joined the Communist Party.
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin – May 7, 2012 – Present, Communist.
Tajikistan:
Emomalii Rahmon – November 20, 1992 – Present, Communist.
Turkmenistan:
Saparmurat Atayevich Niyazov – November 2, 1990 – December 21, 2006, Communist.
Gurbanguly Mälikgulyýewiç Berdimuhamedow – December 21, 2006 – Present, Unknown.
Ukraine:
Leonid Makarovych Kravchuk, December 5, 1991 – July 19, 1994, joined Ukraine Communist Party in 1958.
Leonid Danylovych Kuchma, July 19, 1994 – January 23, 2005, Communist, 1960.
Viktor Andriyovych Yushchenko, January 23, 2005 – February 25, 2010, Communist, 1980.
Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych, February 25, 2010 – Present, Communist, 1980.
Uzbekistan:
Islam Abdug‘aniyevich Karimov – March 24, 1990 – Present, Communist.
Imagine it’s 1784 America. The Treaty of Paris (1783) was signed the previous year ending the revolutionary war with Britain. So who do the electorates of the newly independent 13 colonies elect for their respective governors? They elect persons who were Loyalists (American supporters of Great Britain) during the war for independence! Of course, in reality the persecution was so bad for Loyalists in post independence America that they had to flee the country en masse for Canada.
Or try this one out: After the collapse of the South African Apartheid Regime in 1994, the majority black population reelect for their Presidents only persons who were National Party members before the 1994 elections!
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