On June 21-22, Uzbekistan held the 5th Working Party meeting on the accession to the WTO, almost two years after the last meeting. The meeting was chaired by the newly appointed Ambassador of the Republic of Korea, Lee Taeho, and brought together 25 WTO Members to examine Uzbekistan's foreign trade regime.
In his opening remarks, Mr. Abidov mentioned the ongoing reforms in Uzbekistan and invited the meeting participants to watch the video message from Deputy-Prime Minister Sardor Umurzakov. In his communication, Mr. Umurzakov noted that the Development Strategy of New Uzbekistan for 2022-2026 provides for the priority of Uzbekistan's accession to the WTO. "We consider the process of Uzbekistan's accession as an integral part of the ongoing reforms aimed at further integration of our country into the world economic relations and the multilateral trading system", he said.
The Deputy-Prime Minister added that since 2016 there have been no new accessions by candidate countries to the WTO due to the complexity of each new accession, i.e., more effort and commitment is required from candidate countries. He stated that Uzbekistan "urges distinguished WTO Members to be more flexible in matters of new accessions, and give special consideration to this effect".
