Integration and Trade Agreements
World Trade Organization Accession Negotiatons
Accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) has the potential to impact greatly on the economies of Member countries. On the one hand acceding countries make commitments to liberalize their markets by reducing tariffs and undertaking a variety of trade reforms. While consumers may gain from lower prices on imported goods, and acceding countries can use WTO membership to better position themselves to attract private investment flows, there are broad implications for domestic productive capacity in the main economic sectors – agriculture, industry and services - as well as for growth, human development and poverty reduction.
In this regard, critical challenges and opportunities face the 12 Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries, half of which acceded to the WTO relatively recently with the other half in the process of negotiating accession (only Turkmenistan has not applied). Most of these countries lack the capacity to assess the development and socio-economic impact of WTO accession and to negotiate accordingly. It must also be acknowledged, however, that most of the CIS countries’ economies are small and lack effective bargaining power. They need to join with other countries to strengthen their bargaining position. Regional Trade Agreements 
CIS – Commonwealth of Independent States (www.cis.minsk.by);
CACO – Central Asian Cooperation Organisation (no website);
EAEC – Eurasian Economic Community (http://www.photius.com/eaec/);
UES – United Economic Space (no website);
ECO – Economic Cooperation Organisation (http://www.ecosecretariat.org/)
GUAM - Georgia Ukraine Azerbaijan Moldova
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