On September 22, President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev met with Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala in New York to discuss issues related to Uzbekistan's accession to the WTO. The WTO chief noted the significant progress made by Uzbekistan and expressed hope that all accession procedures would be completed by March 2026.
Uzbekistan applied for WTO membership in 1994. However, in 2005, the accession process was suspended due to the import substitution policy in place at the time. The process resumed in March 2018 after an official application was submitted to the WTO Secretariat. Today, Uzbekistan is at an advanced stage of the accession process. The country plans to join the WTO before the start of the 14th Ministerial Conference, which will be held in Cameroon in 2026. Bilateral negotiations have been completed and market access protocols have been signed with 29 countries. According to Azizbek Urunov, the president’s representative on WTO issues, only three countries remain to fully complete bilateral negotiations. Uzbekistan is actively pursuing reforms aimed at bringing national legislation into line with WTO requirements. These reforms concern the areas of trade in goods, services, intellectual property, and agriculture.
Uzbekistan’s accession to the WTO will accelerate market reforms, increase the predictability of national economic policy, and create the conditions for growth in exports and investment and increased economic productivity. However, in light of increased protectionism on the part of the world's leading economies and the unfolding of trade wars, many experts are skeptical about the future of the multilateral trading system. According to Michael Froman, president of the US Council on Foreign Relations, “The global trading system as we knew it is dead. The WTO has effectively ceased to function because it is unable to negotiate, monitor, or enforce the commitments of its member countries”.
As an alternative to the current multilateral trade regulation system, he proposes “building a new system around open plurilateralism: coalitions of countries that have common interests in certain areas and come together to adopt high standards on specific issues, while remaining open to other countries that share these interests and are willing to implement such standards”. Froman notes that the advantages of the new system are its flexibility and adaptability. At the same time, the proposed system is inferior to the current one in terms of economic efficiency, since its benefits will be distributed only among the participating countries. There is also a risk of a “spaghetti effect” arising from the fact that the same countries may be parties to different plurilateral agreements and have conflicting obligations. Despite these shortcomings, Froman believes that such a network may prove to be more politically stable than a multilateral trading system.
In her speech at a meeting organized by the Peterson Institute for International Economics (USA), WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala emphasized that while many have already declared the “death of the WTO”, others see this as an opportunity to build a stronger and more sustainable trading system. Despite the disruption of global trade due to unilateral measures, the WTO “remains alive”. Before the rise of protectionism by the US and the introduction of retaliatory measures by other countries, 80% of world trade was conducted on the basis of most-favored-nation (MFN) treatment. Currently, this figure has fallen to 72%. At the same time, 75% of world trade in goods is still conducted under WTO terms, which demonstrates the resilience of the multilateral system in times of global uncertainty.
The WTO Director-General noted the need to reform the WTO system to make it more flexible. “My agenda for the next term is to preserve what works, reform what doesn’t, and look to the future by creating new rules and agreements to increase the benefits of international trade”, she emphasized.
Despite the current tensions in global trade, a multilateral agreement on fisheries, ratified by 114 WTO member countries, has come into force for the first time in eight years, demonstrating their commitment to achieving sustainable development through the establishment of new trade rules. At the same time, active work is underway within the WTO platform to conclude a number of plurilateral agreements, for example, in the field of e-commerce. In other words, coalitions of member countries are being formed within the WTO to conclude new agreements aimed at addressing specific issues. According to Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, some WTO members are concerned about the focus on concluding plurilateral agreements, as they may undermine the significance of multilateral agreements. She stressed that there is no need to fear this, as there is a need for a “basket of different tools” to increase the flexibility and resilience of the WTO. Therefore, coalitions of different countries are welcome in the WTO; they do not create a parallel system, but complement the existing mechanism.
The WTO Secretary-General noted that the global trading system was created to ensure the interdependence of countries and has proven its effectiveness over the past 80 years. In particular, as a result of the development of global trade based on transparent regulatory rules, more than 1.5 billion people have been lifted out of absolute poverty. It is now important to ensure the sustainable development of the global economy with a focus on reducing “over-dependence” on individual suppliers and markets. Therefore, the WTO supports the creation of coalitions of members aimed at reducing “over-dependence” and decentralizing supply chains with the broad involvement of countries with relatively low incomes.
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala expressed her hope that at the Fourteenth Ministerial Conference in Cameroon, WTO member countries would reach a consensus and adopt a package of key reforms that would strengthen the effectiveness of the multilateral trading system. By becoming a full member of the WTO, Uzbekistan will be able to contribute to the improvement of international trade rules, taking into account national interests for the benefit of the prosperity of the people. Uzbekistan’s strategic goal is not only to join the WTO as a new member, but also to become an initiator of the renewal of its rules. The WTO remains the most effective platform for establishing “rules of the game”, and plurilateralism is a key tool for their rapid improvement. The country’s task is to skillfully use these resources to achieve sustainable development and protect its national interests.
* The Institute for Advanced International Studies (IAIS) does not take institutional positions on any issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the IAIS.
