Uzbekistan plans to join the World Trade Organization before the 14th Ministerial Meeting, which will be held in 2026 in Cameroon, the WTO press service reported with reference to Deputy PM Jamshid Khodjayev, who heads the special commission for the republic’s accession to the WTO.
The delegation of Uzbekistan at the negotiations in Geneva was represented by Deputy Prime Minister Jamshid Khodjayev, Special Presidential Representative for WTO Affairs Aziz Urunov, Deputy Head of the Ministry of Economy and Finance Akhadbek Khaydarov, Deputy Head of the Ministry of Justice Alisher Karimov, as well as Deputy Head of the Ministry of Agriculture Akmaljon Kosimov.
“Uzbekistan remains steadfast in its commitment to join the World Trade Organization, and we are making every effort to achieve meaningful progress,” the Deputy PM said.
The chairman of the working group, Ambassador of South Korea Yoon Sung-dok noted the “accelerated pace of negotiations”, emphasizing that the process of Uzbekistan’s accession to the WTO “has reached a new level”.
Uzbekistan has signed agreements with four countries – Dominican Republic, Israel, Uruguay, Japan. The republic is also currently conducting active bilateral negotiations with 33 WTO member countries.
The working group discussed various aspects of the foreign trade regime, calling on Uzbekistan to “take on additional obligations”.
Deputy Minister of Justice Alisher Karimov spoke about the adoption of several legal acts to bring the trade regime into line with WTO rules in various areas, including state fees for company registration, intellectual property rights, technical barriers to trade, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, and customs valuation.
WTO member countries were invited to conclude market access agreements with Uzbekistan, and also send questions by June 21. In turn, Uzbekistan must provide answers and documents supporting them.
Accession to the WTO
In April 2023, Shavkat Mirziyoyev instructed the government to speed up work on Uzbekistan’s WTO membership. The head of state noted the importance of this step for a significant increase in exports – in particular, finished products.
Since June, the post of special presidential representative on WTO issues was established, and it was also ordered to create units for interaction with it in 20 departments. At the same time, the president introduced a ban on the creation of normative legal acts that do not comply with the organization’s norms.
At the 78th session of the UN General Assembly in September, the president called early accession to the WTO a priority task for Uzbekistan. The director general of the organization, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, agreed to expedite the next meeting of the working group on this issue.
During Emmanuel Macron’s November visit to Uzbekistan, it became known that France supports the republic's membership in the WTO. A little later, Italy expressed its support.
