OREANDA-NEWS. On 03 April 2009 was announced, that Belarus and Russia still consider simultaneous WTO accession, Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Yevdochenko told reporters in Minsk.

“This is an important issue that we are ready to discuss. We always synchronize our watches – we have special discussions to exchange information about the progress of our WTO-related efforts,” he said.

He said foreign partners were aware of the intention of the two countries to accede to the WTO simultaneously.

“If we accede separately, the gap must be as short as possible in order not to hamper our integration,” Yevdochenko said.