Hungary ready to support Uzbekistan in joining the WTO

Hungary will support Uzbekistan in joining the World Trade Organization (WTO), said Péter Szijjártó, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

“Hungary supports Uzbekistan’s accession to the WTO,” he said, speaking at the Uzbekistan-Hungary intergovernmental commission meeting in Tashkent. “In addition, we support granting Uzbekistan the GSP+ status, as well as the signing of the Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement with the EU.”

Now, Uzbekistan uses the basic General System of Preferences (GSP), according to which it can export 3 thousand goods to the EU without customs duties and 3,200 items at reduced rates. If a country receives unilateral tariff preferences under the General System of Preferences Plus (GSP+), it will be able to export more than 6 thousand goods without customs duties.

“Our Permanent Representatives will establish contacts with your representatives this week in Geneva and Brussels. We will agree on the tactics that are necessary to achieve success in this area,” Szijjártó said.

For the first time, Uzbekistan applied for accession to the WTO in 1994, but negotiations have been suspended since 2005. Currently, the Uzbek side is consistently resuming this process.

#WTO #Hungary #Péter Szijjártó