Azernews.Az

By Trend

Azerbaijan was admitted to the Finance Committee of the World Customs Organization (WCO).

The decision was made at a conference of customs services’ heads of the European region of the WCO, said Azerbaijan’s State Customs Committee in a message.

According to the message, Azerbaijan was represented at the event by Chairman of the State Customs Committee Aydin Aliyev. As it was noted, the decision was made taking into account that after a few months the term of the country’s membership in the WCO Policy Commission expires.

Then the conference participants discussed the candidatures for the posts of the WCO secretary general and deputy secretary general.

During the conference, Aydin Aliyev noted that some members of the WCO abuse their preferences; there are cases of dishonesty towards other members.

The chairman of the State Customs Committee of Azerbaijan stressed that this issue should be resolved once and for all.

During the conference, Aliyev also expressed his attitude towards the admission of Kosovo to the WCO. He recalled that this issue was raised back in 2012 at the 199th and 120th sessions of the Customs Cooperation Council at the WCO General Staff. The Azerbaijani side, during these sessions, drew attention to the fact that this issue can’t be discussed.

Aliyev once again reminded that Azerbaijan and several other countries faced the problem of territorial integrity. He noted that the WCO can’t be an arena for solving political issues.

He went on to say that Azerbaijan doesn’t recognize the independence of Kosovo and unilaterally recognized independence is contrary to international law.

According to him, the WCO are facing other issues that need to be addressed.

Aliyev said that at the meetings of the organization established for countries’ cooperation on customs issues, attention shouldn’t be given to political issues. Moreover, the decision on Kosovo’s admission to the WCO was discussed in 2012, and then this decision wasn’t adopted. Considering that this decision is still in force, the Azerbaijani side thinks that it is inappropriate to consider this issue again.

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