In 2024, Uzbekistan completed bilateral negotiations for joining the World Trade Organization (WTO) with 15 countries. This was announced by the special representative of the president for WTO issues, Azizbek Urunov, on his LinkedIn page.
The total number of such countries has reached 22. Among the WTO members with whom bilateral negotiations were concluded this year are the USA, China, the Philippines, Thailand, Pakistan, Argentina, Brazil, and Sri Lanka.
Uzbekistan has also moved to develop a draft report of the Working Group based on the factual presentation of issues raised at the beginning of 2024. The completion of work on the document is scheduled for 2025.
Over the past year, more than 30 legal acts, related to the WTO, were adopted, including nine laws, six presidential decrees, and 12 resolutions of the Cabinet of Ministers.
Additionally, two meetings of the Working Group were held, along with two informal meetings on agriculture, and two international events supported by the WB, IMF and WTO in Tashkent and Washington, and the president met twice with WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.
Azizbek Urunov emphasized that 2024 has been a “productive and historic” year, hoping that the next year will be its “reflection.” In an interview with Spot, the special representative for the WTO mentioned that Uzbekistan still needs to finalize negotiations with Russia, the EU, the UK, Switzerland, and a few other countries.
Joining the WTO
In April 2023, Shavkat Mirziyoyev instructed the government to expedite the process for Uzbekistan to obtain WTO membership. 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, the position of special representative of the president for WTO issues was established, and it was also mandated to create units for interaction with the WTO in 20 ministries. Additionally, the president 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 stated that the swift accession to the WTO is a priority task for Uzbekistan. The organization's Director-General 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 take place in 2026 in Cameroon. During an open dialogue with businesses in August of this year, Mirziyoyev referred to joining the WTO as “an integral part of the reforms.”
Deputy Head of the Tax Committee Mubin Mirzaev reported 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.
Minister of Economy and Finance Jamshid Kuchkarov, in his speech before the Oliy Majlis on November 27 regarding the cancellation of benefits for exporters, described the WTO as “a generally fair trading system.” Local entrepreneurs must learn to operate in conditions of open competition, he emphasized.
Earlier, Spot reported that subsidies for exporting goods by air and rail are being eliminated in Uzbekistan.