WT/REG317/M/1  
 
28 April 2017 
(17-2343) Page: 1/2 
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements  
Eighty -fourth Session    
 
FREE TRADE AGREEMENT  BETWEEN THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION AND AZERBAIJAN 
(GOODS ) 
NOTE ON THE MEETING OF 3 APRIL  2017 
Chairman: Ambassador Daniel BLOCKERT (Sweden)  
1.1.  The 8 4th Session of the Committee on Regional Trade Agreements (hereinafter 'CRTA' or the 
'Committe e') was convened in Airgram  WTO/AIR/RTA/ 9/Rev.1  dated 24 March  2017. 
1.2.  Under Agenda Item F.II of the Session, the CRTA considered the  Free Trade Agreement (FTA) 
between the Russian Federation and Azerbaijan , goods, (hereinafter "the Agreement").  
1.3.  The Chairman  recalled that during the CRTA meeting of 4 March 2009, Members had agreed 
to consider RTAs involving non -Members under the Transparency Mechanism's procedures and had 
agreed that those RTAs notified since 14 December 2006, including future notifications, should be 
taken up before the others. Members had made it clear that consideration of such agreements by 
the Committee did not have any implication for the views or positions of any Member with respect 
to the consistency of that RTA with WTO rules and woul d be without prejudice to the rights and 
obligations of Members under the WTO Agreements, as clearly stated in paragraphs 1 and 5 of the 
Transparency Mechanism Decision. Members had also agreed that the consideration of such 
agreements in the CRTA would be  organized under a separate agenda item.  
1.4.  The Agreement had entered into force on 17 February 1993  and it had been notified to the 
WTO by the Russian Federation on 13 September 2012 under Article XXIV:7(a) of the GATT 1994 
and the Understanding on the Inter pretation of Article XXIV of GATT 1994 as an Agreement 
establishing a free trade area (document WT/REG317/N/1). The text of the Agreement was 
available, together with its Annexes, on the WTO RTA database.  
1.5.  The Factual Presentation on the goods aspects (docu ment WT/REG317/1 dated 16 January 
2017) and questions and replies on this Agreement (document WT/REG317/2 dated 17 March 
2017) had been distributed.  
1.6.  The representative of the Russian Federation  thanked the Secretariat for preparing the 
Factual Presentation  and appreciated the Members who had expressed interest in the Agreement 
and had asked written questions, to which Russia had provided answers in line with established 
practices  in close coordination with the Permanent mission of Azerbaijan in Geneva.  He hoped that 
the day's meeting would be helpful for WTO Members to better understand the Agreement . 
1.7.  The Agreement had been signed in 1992, thus being one of the first agreements establishing 
the legal basis for a free trade regime in the CIS area. Although at  the time neither of the two 
countries had been a GATT participant and the WTO framework had been still an issue for 
discussions, the Agreement had incorporated fundamental provisions of regional trade agreements 
in accordance with the then -GATT rules.  
1.8.  The purpose of the Agreement include d developing trade and economic cooperation between 
Russia and Azerbaijan as well as accelerating the economic development of both countries, 
improving working and living conditions, increasing employment  and achieving fina ncial stability.  
The Agreement provided  for information exchange on a wide range of issues. The Parties had also 
agreed to establish a Joint Commission in order to discuss the implementation of the Agreement WT/REG317/M/1  
 
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  and to elaborate recommendations for developing trade and economic cooperation between the 
two countries.  
1.9.  The Agreement had formed a solid basis for robust trade relations between Russia and 
Azerbaijan. At a meeting of the Joint Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation in 
December 2016 both Parties  had underlined positive trends in bilateral trade. In particular, they 
had noted that Azerbaijan 's exports to Russia of machines, equipment and vehicles had grown  5.8 
times  and, paper and cellulose articles had grown  5.5 times. Azerbaijan 's export of agricultural and 
mineral products had increased by 27% and 12 .6% respectively. He considered the FTA to be an 
important instrument for maintaining and further deepening economic relations between the two 
countries.  The Russian delegation looked forward to a constructive exchange of views on all 
aspects of the Agreement.  
1.10.   The representative of Azerbaijan  express ed appreciation to the WTO Secretariat  for the 
factual presentation . Trade and economic cooperation between the Russia n Federation  and 
Azerbaijan had developed and was still developing dynamically and successfully. Russia had 
traditionally been one of Azerbaijan's main trading partners, ranking second in 2016 in terms of 
Azerbaijan's exports  and first in terms of the share of import s. Along with thes e positive trends 
there was great potential for the further strengthening of mutually beneficial trade relations.  
1.11.   He noted the positive role that the FTA had played  in strengthening relations  between the 
countries . In this respect, he stress ed the importa nce of the work of the Joint Intergovernmental 
Commission on Economic Cooperation, which had been established in August 2006. The 
Commission regularly met to discuss not only issues related to the FTA but also a broad variety of 
issues related to trade, cu stoms, and agriculture, as well as humanitarian and other social -
economic issue s. It served  as a legal institution which aimed at providing effective interaction of 
business and governmental structures of the two countries.  
1.12.   Despite the fact that the FTA had been initially signed with some exceptions, at the time 
Azerbaijan and Russia did  not apply any i mport tariff s against each other;  as of 2012, all 
exceptions had been eliminated according to the Protocol on Exceptions signed between the 
Parties on 6 Feb ruary 2004.  Azerbaijan believe d that effective implementation of the provisions of 
the FTA would contribute to further enhancement of relations between the two countries.  
1.13.   In conclusion, he expressed gratitude for Members' interest and thank ed them for thei r 
written questions. He also thank ed his colleagues from the Permanent Mission of the Russian 
Federation for their collaboration in preparing the answers to the questions received. He reiterated 
his delegation 's readiness to continue the constructive coope ration.  
1.14.   The representative of Japan  thanked  both Parties for the comprehensive presentation and 
their written response to Japan's question submitted in advance of the meeting. The delegation of 
Japan did not have additional questions. Japan had noted  that the Parties had notified the  
Agreement separately from the CIS Agreement, which Azerbaijan and Russia had also signed. He 
appreciate d the achievement of full liberalization in terms of trade in goods between both Parties.  
Finally, he said Japan would be following how the Parties would proceed to address the issue of 
export duties, which were permitted under the Agreement.  
1.15.   The Chairman  said that the consideration of the Goods Aspects of the Free Trade Agreement 
between the Russian Federation and Azerbaijan  had allowed the Committee  to clarify a number of 
questions and it could now  conclude oral discussion of th e RTA in accordance with paragraph  11 of 
the Transparency Mechanism. If any delegations wish ed to ask follow -up questions they were 
invited to forward  submissions in writing to the Secretariat by 10 April 2017 and Parties were 
asked to submit replies in writing by no later than 24 April 2017 . In accordance with paragraph  13 
of the Transparency Mechanism all written submissions,  as well as minutes of thi s meeting would  
be circulated promptly, in all WTO  official languages, and would  be made available on the WTO 
website.  
1.16.   The Committee took note  of the comments made.  
 
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