On February 23, 2022, in the building of the World Trade Organization (WTO), 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.
The meeting of the General Council was attended by the Permanent Representative of Turkmenistan to the UN Office in Geneva, during which he spoke on behalf of the Government of Turkmenistan to the WTO member countries.
In his speech, the Permanent Representative of Turkmenistan noted that with the adoption of the “Foreign trade strategy of Turkmenistan for 2021-2030”, which was adopted as part of the implementation of the “Program for the development of foreign economic activity of Turkmenistan for 2020-2025”, the Government of Turkmenistan has identified new tasks to increase production and export potential of the country’s economy, increasing the competitiveness of domestic goods in world markets, further improving the business environment and investment climate in the economy of Turkmenistan.
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 in order to achieve this task, 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.
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. With the status of an acceding country to the WTO, in accordance with the rules of procedure of the Organization, a Working Group on Turkmenistan’s accession to the WTO was also established.