Kazakhstan and the World Economy: An Assessment of Kazakhstan’s Trade Policy and Pending Accession to the WTO

By Arastou Khatibi, Brian Hindley, Fredrik Erixon, Iana Dreyer, Lucy Davis, Razeen Sally, Florian Koebele, Pierre-Olivier Legault Tremblay

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Kazakhstan has been negotiating accession to the WTO for twelve years, following a line of ex-Soviet states seeking membership.  In this new, comprehensive study Brian Hindley presents a detailed analysis of Kazakhstan’s long accession process. WTO membership is a matter of economic strategy. For Kazakhstan though, legitimate geopolitical concerns have come into play as Russia has pushed for deepened regional economic integration while neglecting its own accession negotiations. But, Kazakhstan’s strategy of global economic integration would be better served by WTO membership than the regional alternative. Greater support from big WTO players such as the EU and the US could help the Kazakh government to accelerate accession without waiting for Russia.