Uzbekistan Plans New WTO Accession Talks This Year - Investment Ministry

TASHKENT (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th May, 2021) Uzbekistan prepares another meeting on joining the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2021, the Uzbek ministry of investments and foreign trade said.

On Wednesday, the ministry's chief Sardor Umurzakov held online talks with WTO Director General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.

"Holding this year the fifth session of the working group on Uzbekistan's joining the WTO is one of the prior objectives on the agenda of bilateral cooperation," the statement said.

The parties discussed a number of practical issues concerning the preparations of the forthcoming talks and outlined further steps in this direction.

In 1998, Uzbekistan created the working group on joining the WTO, following receiving its observer status at the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the WTO predecessor. In July 2020, the group has its fourth meeting with the WTO and other countries after a 15-year break. According to the Uzbek foreign ministry, in case of joining, the country hopes to receive privileges of a state with a developing economy.