Ljajic: GMO preventing Serbia from joining World Trade Organization

Minister of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications Rasim Ljajic said on February 8, 2017, that there was a great public resistance to amending the Law on GMO, which is a prerequisite for joining the World Trade Organization.

– In the short-term, I'm not an optimist, as there's great pressure of the public not to change anything. Nevertheless, 163 countries are WTO members, and Russia became a member two years ago. A total of 25 countries are in the process of joining the organization. Only 13 countries in the world are not in that process. It would be a great shame for us not to join WTO – Ljajic said.

He added that all WTO members needed to accept the rules, standards and unified regulations. As he says, the main problem is how to amend the Law on GMO, as it strictly forbids growing and marketing GMO.

WTO believes that no member-country must have explicit bans on trade of any product. Once Serbia has fulfilled this requirement, joining the organization can be discussed, Ljajic added.

Ministarstvo turizma i omladine Republike Srbije

World Trade Organization Geneva

World Trade Organization

Rasim Ljajic

Law on GMO

GMO

WTO members

ban on GMO

GMO food

genetically modified food

GMO production in Serbia

ban on GMO in Serbia

accession of Serbia to WTO