Last Wednesday, the General Council of the World Trade Organization (WTO) considered the application of Turkmenistan to join the WTO and decided to grant Turkmenistan the status of an acceding country («active observer») to the WTO.

 “Today, during the regular meeting of the WTO General Council, the application of Turkmenistan for accession to the WTO was considered in accordance with Article XII of the Marrakesh Agreement establishing the WTO”.  This was reported in a press release from the Permanent Mission of Turkmenistan to the UN Office in Geneva.

 Earlier, Turkmenistan's application for accession to the WTO, signed by Vice-Chairman Serdar Berdimuhamedov, was presented to Director General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.  Initially, it was planned to be considered during the 12th WTO Ministerial Conference, scheduled for the period from November 30 to December 3, 2022.

 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, he 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 foreign economic activity of Turkmenistan 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.

 It was also emphasized that 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.

 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 examines in detail all aspects of interaction with the Organization for compliance with the national interests of the country.

 With the status of an acceding country to the WTO, a Working Group on Turkmenistan's accession to the WTO was also established.