Kazakhstan hopes to enter the World Trade Organization (WTO) no later than the first half of 2012, the country's minister of economic development said on Friday.
"We'll try to complete all the work [on the accession] this year. We have the all the conditions in place for this," minister Zhanar Aitzhanova said.
"There would be nothing terrible about it if this were to happen in the first half of 2012," she added.
In June 2009, the prime ministers of Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus decided to join the WTO as a single customs territory, but the idea was later dropped as the countries had different degrees of readiness for membership.
Astana subsequently announced plans to enter the WTO by the end of 2010, but later had to scrap its plans.
ASTANA, February 4 (RIA Novosti)
