09/05/2008
GENEVA, Switzerland -- Serbia could join the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in mid-2009, WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy and Serbian Economy Minister Mladjan Dinkic said on Thursday (May 8th) at a news conference after meeting in Geneva. Dinkic insisted Sunday's elections would not stall the reform agenda, vowing that Serbia would bring its laws into line with WTO rules within a month. He added that Belgrade plans to begin talks soon on bilateral free-trade agreements with the US, Canada, Japan, Norway and Turkey. Serbia submitted a formal application to start entry negotiations with the WTO in December 2004. A working group on WTO accession first met in October 2005. (Tanjug, Beta, RTS, Reuters - 08/05/08)