Jamshid Khodjaev said Uzbekistan is determined to finalise its accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) this year, the organisation reports.
Speaking at the 12th meeting of the Working Party on Uzbekistan’s accession on March 9, Khodjaev thanked WTO members for their support and said Tashkent remains committed to constructive engagement with all participants in the negotiations.
He noted that ongoing economic reforms are designed to meet accession requirements and prepare Uzbekistan to become «a responsible and predictable participant in the global trading system».
Negotiations and reforms
Uzbekistan’s delegation included senior officials such as Azizbek Urunov, Akhadbek Khaydarov and Makhmud Istamov.
WTO members welcomed the progress made so far, including reforms and the examination of draft commitments. The latest draft of the Working Party report now contains 62 commitments, compared with 56 in the previous version.
Members also raised questions on issues such as state-owned enterprises, technical trade barriers, sanitary standards, intellectual property and agriculture.
Bilateral agreements progress
Delegates congratulated Uzbekistan for completing several bilateral market access negotiations. Thirty agreements have now been submitted to the WTO Secretariat, including recent deals with Ecuador, the European Union, Paraguay, Russia and Uruguay.
Khodjaev said Uzbekistan is making every effort to conclude the remaining bilateral talks.
Sung-yo Choi, who chairs the accession process, praised the «impressive progress» made since 2020 and said negotiations on market access are close to completion.
She said momentum in the accession process remains strong and expressed hope that the next Working Party meeting could take place before the summer.
Uzbekistan first applied for WTO membership in 1994 and has been actively negotiating its accession terms with members since 2020.
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