A training course for representatives of countries joining the WTO on market accession negotiations was held last week at the World Trade Organization Secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland.

Representatives of the Ministries of Finance and Economy, Trade and Foreign Economic Relations, the Central Bank, and the State Customs Service participated in the training from Turkmenistan.

During the event, representatives of countries working towards WTO accession received knowledge from WTO experts on the directions of negotiations on goods trade, rules and objectives of multilateral and bilateral negotiations. Key lessons that can be learned from the experience of countries that have gone through the process of accession to the World Trade Organization were considered. Representatives of the United States, Japan and Brazil shared their practices and made recommendations.

The course provided in-depth training on all aspects of goods trade related to accession, with a special focus on appropriate scheduling methods, sectoral approaches, and consolidation and verification of bilateral market access agreements.

Since receiving the status of a country acceding to the WTO in February 2022, Turkmenistan has intensified its work in this direction. Currently, the main preparatory documents for accession to the WTO, namely the preliminary draft of the Agreement on Foreign Trade of Turkmenistan, have been developed jointly with experts from the WTO Secretariat and representatives of the relevant ministries and industry departments of the country. Work is underway to complete the final draft.

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