Minsk - Belarus is ready to enter into the World Trade Organization (WTO) but the European Union and the United States are hampering its accession, President Alexander Lukashenko told the Mir interstate broadcaster.
“We have long been prepared to join the WTO; we have held
negotiations. But we suddenly bumped into a political barrier,” he said.
“They tell us it is a purely commercial and economic organization.
Not at all; it is dominated by politics. The European Union and the
United States built that political fence for well-known reasons: they
allege we “do not observe human rights”, we are “the last stronghold of
dictatorship” and so on,” the Belarusian president said.
“Time marches on and people can see what is really happening. This
means we will join the WTO sooner or later,” he said. “Actually, the
pressing need for doing that disappeared after the Russian entry into
the WTO. Practically, we will operate within the WTO framework as Russia
is our main trade partner,” Lukashenko said.
“We will get accustomed to the norms of the World Trade Organization
step by step. We cannot help that; we cannot isolate ourselves from the
world as our economy is export-centered. We will have to join the WTO
sooner or later,” the Belarusian president said.
