Turkmenistan received the status of an acceding country to the WTO
The General Council of the World Trade Organizations considered on Wednesday the application of Turkmenistan for accession to the WTO and decided to grant Turkmenistan the status of an acceding country ("active observer") to the WTO.
Earlier, Turkmenistan's application for WTO accession, signed by Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov, was handed over to Director General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and was originally to be considered during the postponed 12th WTO Ministerial Conference, which was scheduled from 30 November to December 3 this year.
At the current meeting of the General Council, on behalf of the government of Turkmenistan, the Permanent Representative of Turkmenistan to the UN Office in Geneva Atageldi Khaljanov addressed the WTO member countries.
In his speech, the Permanent Representative noted that with the adoption of the Foreign Trade Strategy of Turkmenistan for 2021-2030, as part of the implementation of the "Program for the Development of Turkmenistan's Foreign Economic Activity for 2020-2025", the government has identified new tasks to increase the production and export potential of the country's economy, increase the competitiveness of domestic goods on world markets, further improvement of the business environment and investment climate.
The participation of Turkmenistan in the work of the WTO as an observer made it possible to keep abreast of the current multilateral trade agenda and WTO rules. The growing trends of economic globalization in the modern world, especially after the pandemic situation, set the task for Turkmenistan to more intensively integrate into the world economy and the system of international economic relations.
It was also noted that, having become an observer country, Turkmenistan began to work more intensively on further steps within the Organization. The established government commission to study the issue of Turkmenistan's accession to the WTO constantly examines in detail all aspects of interaction with the Organization for compliance with the national interests of the country.
As a result of participation in the meeting and after discussion, the member countries of the General Council of the Organization unanimously approved the application of Turkmenistan and decided to grant Turkmenistan the status of an acceding country (“active observer”) to the WTO, in accordance with Article XII of the Marrakesh Agreement establishing the WTO.
During the meeting of the General Council of the WTO, the Director General of the WTO, representatives of a number of member states of the Organization spoke. This is Mongolia – on behalf of itself and on behalf of the Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDC), Kazakhstan, Turkey, USA, Uzbekistan, Panama, China, Russian Federation, Republic of Korea, India, Morocco, Tajikistan, Delegation of the European Union, Kyrgyzstan , Cameroon - on its own behalf and on behalf of the African group, Chad, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Jamaica, Cambodia.
They welcomed the initiative of Turkmenistan to join the Organization as an acceding country (“active observer”) and supported Turkmenistan, linking the realization of geopolitical and economic opportunities with the development of transport and communication networks in the world.
With the status of an acceding country to the WTO, in accordance with Article XII of the Marrakesh Agreement establishing the WTO, in accordance with the rules of procedures of the Organization, a Working Group on Turkmenistan's accession to the WTO was also established.
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