ALGIERS, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- Algeria will go "at its own pace" in its process of joining the World Trade Organization (WTO) that began in the 1980s, Trade Minister Mohamed Benmeradi said Monday.

"The application for membership has been filed for more than two decades and Algeria is still an applicant, but we will go at our own pace," said the minister.

Benmeradi said WTO members all want to benefit from Algeria's bilateral agreement with the European Union (EU), which provides trade preferences in return for EU's support in Algier's WTO accession.

"This hardly helps Algeria," Benmeradi said, adding that Algeria is willing to join the organization, but it is not in hurry for that. "We will not pay for what we cannot afford for the membership," he said.

Noting the contradictions between the theoretical policy of the WTO and the real practices of its members, the minister observes that the United States, Russia and other WTO member states are implementing measures to protect their benefits.

Algeria has conducted 12 rounds of multilateral negotiations that have processed over 1,900 issues related to the national economic system.

The country also held more than 120 bilateral meetings with 20 countries, culminating in the conclusion of six bilateral agreements with Cuba, Brazil, Uruguay, Switzerland, Venezuela and Argentina.

Algeria has been engaged in seeking access to the WTO since June 1987, but negotiations officially started in 1996.