A seminar on Turkmenistan’s accession to the WTO and trade protection measures was held in Ashgabat
A seminar on Turkmenistan’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and trade protection measures was held in Ashgabat from November 27 to 30 at the Yildiz Hotel. The event is organized by the Central Asia Trade Program of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) with the support of the Ministry of Finance and Economy of Turkmenistan.
The seminar was attended by about 55 specialists from more than 25 ministries and departments of the country, as well as teachers of economic and diplomatic disciplines from leading universities of Turkmenistan. The four-day seminar covered topics such as the introduction to the WTO and its main agreements and rules, trade liberalization, measures to protect the domestic market, as well as discussion sessions on trade protection instruments.
Marius Bordalba, an expert on international trade of the USAID Program on Trade in Central Asia, who has worked with governments and specialists of the Central Asian and Caucasian states for most of his career, considers the accession of the countries of these large regions to the WTO a very important step for the further development of national economies.
In his opinion, the main advantages of WTO membership are associated with the undoubted benefits of trade liberalization, so that consumers in WTO member countries can buy goods at lower prices, as well as have access to a wider range of them. Increased competition also contributes to bringing the domestic industry to a higher stage of development. This is a well-known fact.
In general, joining the WTO means that countries’ trade regimes should be reformed in accordance with modern trade rules, which also means a better management system, increased efficiency, transparency, etc. And this benefits not only exporters and importers, but also stimulates the qualitative growth of domestic industry and the economy as a whole.
At the end of the seminar, Marius Bordalba said: “For four days we had a very lively discussion on all aspects related to the creation and use of trade protection measures to protect domestic industry against unfair trade in goods or increased imports. Civil servants have an optimal level of knowledge regarding the rules applied in this area. Through real-world cases, participants analyzed and solved the complex problems faced by the relevant competent authorities in conducting real investigations. For the first time in my career, I come across such committed training participants who demonstrate a deep level of knowledge in the field of trade protection measures. Overall, this training confirms the belief that there is a solid basis for starting the process of developing a regime for trade protection measures in Turkmenistan.”
“Turkmenistan began studying the issue of WTO accession in 2013, for this purpose a government commission was established to study WTO agreements and norms,” said Ylham Yarashov, Head of the Department for Cooperation with the WTO of the Ministry of Finance and Economy of Turkmenistan, “In 2020 Turkmenistan was granted observer status in the WTO. This has become one of the key points for the country to further cooperate with the Organization.”
“At the end of 2021, Turkmenistan applied for WTO membership, which was unanimously approved in February 2022 at the WTO Ministerial conference, and the country was given the status of an “accession country” (active observer),” Yarashov continued. “Since then, a lot of work has been done, in June 2023 a working commission was established at the highest level to prepare a Memorandum on Turkmenistan’s foreign trade regime, as well as a new department in the structure of the Ministry of Finance and Economy – the department for cooperation with the World Trade Organization.”
According to him, the Memorandum is currently being developed in active cooperation with the relevant ministries and departments of the country, as well as with the support of international organizations and financial institutions on various aspects of technical assistance. One of the partners in the process of the country’s accession to the WTO is also the United States Agency for International Development — USAID, which acted as the organizer of this seminar.
“The first part of the seminar is an introduction to the fundamental foundations of the WTO, to familiarize all participants of the seminar with its rules and regulations, and the next three days of the seminar are devoted to such a topic as trade protection measures, which is a key element of the international trading system. These measures include tools such as anti-dumping measures, countervailing measures, as well as special protective measures,” the specialist explained.
In accordance with the WTO multilateral agreements in these areas and for the effective use of these instruments, international experts recommend the development of appropriate national legislation. That’s why the current seminar is so important, he added.
Currently, the WTO includes 164 full-fledged states, which account for about 98% of world trade. About 25 other countries are negotiating membership, including some post-Soviet countries such as Belarus, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.
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