Maksim Reshetnikov and Azizbek Urunov. Photo: from Urunov’s LinkedIn account.
Uzbekistan and Russia have signed a protocol concluding their bilateral negotiations as part of Uzbekistan’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), according to Azizbek Urunov, the Uzbek president’s special representative for WTO affairs.
The document was signed on December 21 in St. Petersburg by Urunov and Russia’s Minister of Economic Development, Maksim Reshetnikov, on the sidelines of a working visit by President Shavkat Mirziyoyev to the Russian Federation. Urunov said the talks between the two delegations “were lengthy but substantive and constructive, leading to today’s positive result.”
He thanked the Russian side for its active participation in the accession process.
“Although some work still remains, we are now fully focused on advancing the multilateral negotiations, completing the necessary legislative updates, and successfully finalizing the accession process next year,” Urunov said.
With negotiations with Russia completed, Uzbekistan now needs to agree on accession terms only with Taiwan, which participates in international organizations under the name “Chinese Taipei.”
Earlier, Urunov noted that meetings with the Russian delegation in Moscow had been productive and that “a few technical points remained that required final review and confirmation.” He is currently in Washington preparing for talks with the Taiwanese delegation.
Uzbekistan applied for WTO membership in 1994. Before the process was suspended in October 2005—following the events in Andijan—three working group meetings were held. The country resumed the accession process in 2017 after continuing to align its legislation with WTO requirements.
The WTO regulates global trade rules. Accession entails reducing trade barriers for foreign partners and scaling back protectionist measures for domestic producers.
