The seventh meeting of the working group on Uzbekistan's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) is scheduled to take place in September-October, Dunyo news agency said.

President’s WTO Envoy Azizbek Urunov held meetings in Geneva with WTO Director General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, as well as officials of several countries.

Reportedly, as part of the visit, the entire package of fundamental documents was prepared together with the WTO Secretariat for holding the seventh meeting of the working group on Uzbekistan’s accession to the WTO approximately in September-October 2023.

Okonjo-Iweala also voiced WTO’s readiness to expand technical assistance to Uzbekistan to support bilateral and multilateral negotiations with member countries of the organization. In particular, the parties discussed the possibility of attracting expert assistance from a number of international consultants.

Note: Negotiations on Uzbekistan's accession to the WTO resumed in July 2020 after an almost 15-year hiatus, the meeting was the fourth. Speaking at a WTO conference ahead of the fifth meeting in 2022, then-Deputy PM Sardor Umurzakov urged WTO members to be more flexible and assured that Uzbekistan intended to complete the accession process as soon as possible.

In April, it was reported that Uzbekistan had almost completed negotiations on the country's accession to the WTO with three states. In total, the working group includes 47 states, active negotiations are underway with 31 countries.

President Shavkat Mirziyoyev said earlier that the country must certainly join the WTO as part of a strategy to double the country's exports. According to him, the country's authorities in 2023 will achieve significant results in joining the organization.