The high-level delegation from Tashkent comprised 30 other senior government officials, including Azizbek Urunov, Representative of the President of Uzbekistan on the WTO and Chief Negotiator, Akhadbek Khaydarov, Deputy Minister of Economy and Finance, and Makhmud Istamov, Deputy Minister of Justice. Other senior government officials and experts from a range of ministries and agencies joined virtually from Tashkent. 

Deputy Prime Minister Khodjaev reaffirmed Uzbekistan's goal of acceding to the WTO at the 14^th Ministerial Conference in March 2026 and asked for members' support in achieving this goal. He reiterated his country's commitment to continue working on reforming its trade regime. The most substantial progress since the previous Working Party meeting in June, he said, was made on bringing Uzbekistan's technical barriers to trade and sanitary and phytosanitary measures regimes in conformity with WTO rules.

He added: "Uzbekistan has reached a decisive point. The substance of our reforms is maturing and the institutional foundations for a market-based, WTO-consistent economy are firmly being introduced. What remains is to bring our collective work to conclusion so that the benefits of these hard reforms can be fully felt by our citizens .. Together, let us ensure that Uzbekistan's accession stands as a tangible example of how the multilateral trading system continues to deliver for development, inclusion, and integration," he noted.

WTO members commended Uzbekistan for the steps it has taken to align its trade and economic regime with WTO rules, noting that this meeting brought an opportunity to build on the progress made thus far. They also thanked Uzbekistan for the opportunity to review the ongoing reform efforts, particularly on privatization, competition and technical barriers to trade, at a seminar it organized on 4 November. Participating in the event were the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.

While members stressed that Uzbekistan's WTO accession would serve to strengthen the multilateral trading system, some noted that further reforms are required for full WTO compliance. The discussions with Uzbekistan included a review by members of the revised Draft Working Party Report which contains the country's draft commitments. Members also congratulated Uzbekistan for recently concluding several bilateral negotiations.

Chairperson Ambassador Sung-yo Choi (Republic of Korea), who was appointed in July, commended Uzbekistan for "its constructive engagement" and "steady progress", noting that the country is "getting closer to its finalization goal" of acceding to the WTO. Ambassador Choi also thanked WTO members for constructively engaging with Uzbekistan on both bilateral and multilateral negotiations.

Commending Uzbekistan for its "firm commitment to move the accession process forward quickly", Ambassador Choi noted that only a few bilateral negotiations remain to be concluded, all of which are at an advanced stage. The review of the Draft Working Party Report has clearly identified the issues that are ripe and those that require further work from Uzbekistan, she added. She thanked members and Uzbekistan for their constructive engagement during the review of the draft Working Party Report, noting that "the substantive discussions have allowed us to make further progress, especially in understanding what actions are required from Uzbekistan in the coming months." 

She also noted support by WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who has helped to maintain momentum in this accession process, including through high-level meetings with President Shavkat Mirziyoyev on the margins of the UN General Assembly in New York on 22 September and the Head of the Presidential Administration Saida Mirziyoyeva in Geneva on 17 September. 

Next steps

In concluding the meeting, Ambassador Choi encouraged WTO members and Uzbekistan to "focus on resolving outstanding issues", emphasizing that the Working Party will take stock of the work by the end of the year to "collectively assess how to take our work forward to MC14 and beyond in 2026". 

This was the eleventh meeting of the Working Party on the Accession of Uzbekistan. Uzbekistan applied for WTO membership in 1994 and has actively been negotiating its membership terms since 2020.

More information on Uzbekistan's accession process can be found here.

Information about WTO accessions is available here.