AKIPRESS.COM - Kazakh Foreign Minister Erlan Idrissov said yesterday at the parliament meeting that Astana  hopes to join the World Trade Organization (WTO) this year.

He reminded that Kazakhstan has completed talks with EU on the new enhanced partnership deal and the negotiations of the country's accession to the WTO. "We hope that the remaining processes will end this year,” Idrissov said.

The Minister pointed out the great importance of the WTO for Kazakhstan. He said that it was significant not only economically but also politically.

"This is a balancer of our global economic relations. Through the WTO, we will get access to an extensive global trading system, to its standards, rules and regulations. These same rules and regulations will apply to Kazakhstan in trade with other countries. So for us the WTO is a signifier of growth, which we are consistently working towards," Tengrinews cited the minister as saying.