Kazakh delegation takes part in jubilee session of WTO committee
The session is chaired by the Director General of the Royal Customs and Tax Service of the United Kingdom Bill Williamson. Secretary General Kunio Mikuriya and his deputy Sergio Mujica also take part in the session.
Kazakh delegation is headed by the head of the international cooperation department of the State Revenue Committee of the Ministry of Finance of Kazakhstan Yermek Kozhabergenov, proposed to continue discussion on financial support for the use of Russian language within the organization for the members from the so-called "East" sub-region, which among others includes CIS countries.
Kazakhstan initiated this discussion in 2015 during the 98th session of the Finance Committee.
The initiative was supported Spain and Japan, who also spoke for the wider use of foreign languages of key regional importance, in addition to official English and French. Besides Russian it was also proposed to include Spanish and Arabic.
"Following the consideration, the Chairman of the Finance Committee, Bill Williamson, supported our proposal and with a majority vote the committee approved bringing the issue on the summer sessions of the Political Commission and the WCO Council (the highest bodies of the organization)," the Kazakh delegation said.
The Finance Committee was established in 1953 and comprises 19 members whose seats are allocated on a regional basis, as well as the Chairperson of the Audit Committee who is invited to attend as an observer. The Committee upholds the principles of transparency, good governance and sound financial management, examining inter alia the budgets for the previous, current and next financial years, including the level and scale of Members' contributions. Kazakhstan was elected WCO member in 2014.