Shavkat Mirziyoyev signed a decree on December 27 aimed at aligning export support measures with World Trade Organization agreements. This was reported by the Ministry of Justice.
The document includes amendments to several regulatory legal acts related to export financing mechanisms. The changes are made in accordance with international trade rules and the requirements established by the WTO.
In particular, starting from 2025, the compensation for the costs of delivering goods abroad by air and rail will be abolished.
Subsidies and compensations for goods exported before December 31, 2024, will be paid no later than February 1, 2025. As noted by “Narodnoye Slovo,” the decree aims to enhance the efficiency of support for exporters.
In early November, the President's Special Representative for WTO Affairs, Azizbek Urunov, announced the completion of 14 months of negotiations between Tashkent and Washington regarding accession to the organization. Additionally, in recent months, relevant protocols have been signed with China, the Philippines, El Salvador, Thailand, and Pakistan.
At a meeting with entrepreneurs on December 20, the president announced that Uzbekistan's accession process to the WTO is entering its "final stage." He emphasized that the state will continue to support businesses and create conditions for their operations.
Accession to the WTO
In April 2023, Shavkat Mirziyoyev instructed the government to expedite work on Uzbekistan's membership in the WTO. The head of state highlighted the importance of this step for significantly increasing exports—particularly of finished products.
In the summer of the same year, a position of Special Representative of the President for WTO Affairs was established, and it was mandated to create departments for interaction with the WTO in 20 agencies. The president also imposed a ban on the creation of regulatory legal acts that do not comply with the organization's norms.
At the 78th session of the UN General Assembly in September 2023, the president identified the rapid accession to the WTO as 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 matter.
Uzbekistan plans to join the WTO before the 14th Ministerial Conference, which will be held in 2026 in Cameroon. During an open dialogue with businesses in August of this year, Mirziyoyev described accession to the WTO as "an integral part of the reforms."
The First Deputy Head of the Tax Committee, Mubin Mirzaev, stated that Uzbekistan will receive a transitional period of 2-3 years upon joining the WTO. Customs duties will be established based on agreements with other member countries of the organization.
The Minister of Economy and Finance, Jamshid Kuchkarov, in his speech before the Oliy Majlis on November 27 regarding the cancellation of benefits for exporters, called the WTO "a generally fair trading system." Local entrepreneurs must learn to operate under conditions of open competition, he emphasized.
Earlier, Spot reported on the lifting of the ban on the export of white and striped sunflower seeds.