July 21 this year was marked by the joint session of the Interdepartmental Commission for the work with the WTO and the Group of Negotiations on Uzbekistan's accession to the World Trade Organization via video-conferencing. Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan S. Umurzakov headed the meeting as the Chairman of the Commission.

The meeting considered the progress in the bilateral negotiations with the WTO member-countries.

The participants noted the successful holding of the 4th meeting of the Working Group on the accession of the Republic of Uzbekistan to the World Trade Organization on July 7 this year involving representatives of more than 60 WTO member-countries.

The significance of this meeting is also evidenced by the fact that 23 countries and the WTO top officials represented by Deputy Director General A. Wolff made a statement on the support of Uzbekistan in its accession to the WTO.

According to the experts, the WTO member countries decided to directly start making an Evidential Summary being the basis of the Report of the Working Group on Uzbekistan's accession to the WTO for the first time in the history of the Organization during the 1st meeting of the Working Group since the resumption of the negotiations after a 15-year pause.

During the meeting, the participants heard the information on the preparation for the bilateral negotiations with WTO member countries on access to the market for goods and services.

The heads of the relevant ministries and departments received instructions to organize high-quality and comprehensive preparation for negotiations with a view to duly preparation of strategic documents, involvement of competent employees and specialists, and the collection of the necessary information to answer the questions of the WTO member countries. The Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade of the Republic of Uzbekistan will coordinate and regularly monitor the preparation process.

The meeting resulted in the approval of plans of measures to transit to the next stage of negotiations on the accession of Uzbekistan to the WTO, certain plans priority tasks for this process.