Tashkent and London conclude bilateral negotiations on WTO membership

Uzbekistan has officially concluded bilateral negotiations with the United Kingdom regarding its accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO). The announcement was made by Azizbek Urunov, the Special Presidential Representative for WTO Affairs, on his LinkedIn page.

"At the end of last month, we were in London to conduct bilateral negotiations with the UK team. Now I would like to announce their completion," Urunov wrote.

He noted that the agreement, finalized during the London meeting, has undergone the necessary internal approval processes. Its formal signing is scheduled for June 12 in Geneva during the 10th session of the Working Party on Uzbekistan’s WTO accession.

With this development, the UK becomes the 24th trading partner with which Uzbekistan has successfully concluded bilateral negotiations as part of its broader efforts to join the global trade body.

"I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to the UK for its strong support of our accession, and to the Uzbek negotiating team for their tireless work. A few WTO members still remain with whom we must finalize bilateral agreements," Urunov added.

For context, Uzbekistan previously completed similar negotiations with Pakistan and Thailand at the end of last year. On December 19, Uzbekistan and the United States signed a protocol concluding their bilateral market access talks. That agreement was signed by Deputy Prime Minister Jamshid Khojayev and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai.