Her Excellency, Ms. Saida Mirziyoyeva
His Excellency, Deputy Prime Minister Jamshid Khodjaev
His Excellency, Mr. Ravshan Gulyamov,
Excellency, Mr. Sodik Safoev, First Deputy Chairman of Senate
Representatives of the IMF and the World Bank
Partners and members of international community
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Good morning. It is my great privilege to join all of you today to exchange views on how WTO accession can contribute to the Government of Uzbekistan’s ambitious economic reform programme.
Since I became WTO Director-General over three years ago, I have been closely following Uzbekistan’s accession journey. I have been impressed by the government’s commitment and hard work, strategically using the process to push through reforms that were worth doing.
As former Finance Minister of Nigeria, I know how tough serious policy reform is. I appreciate the energy, courage, and determination that are required. This is why I chose Uzbekistan for my first visit to an acceding country. I wanted to show support for your Government’s accession efforts, of course, but also wanted to learn from Uzbekistan so that I could pass key lessons on to other acceding governments facing similar challenges.
This year marks the 30th year since Uzbekistan’s application for accession – a number that attests to the difficulties encountered during the process. Nearly four years have passed since the formal relaunch of the process [in July 2020] after a fifteen-year hiatus. Negotiations have accelerated, especially during the last 12-18 months. The most recent Working Party meeting held just 10 days ago made concrete progress in all areas of negotiations. The conversation has shifted from if the accession will be concluded to when, and how.
I want to use my remarks today to touch upon five key ingredients of a successful accession – and how these lessons are relevant for Uzbekistan.
Since its establishment, 36 members – soon to be 38, have joined the WTO. 22 applicants, including Uzbekistan, are still in the queue. While each accession is unique, successful accessions have five key ingredients in common: (i) strong political will; (ii) an effective inter-ministerial coordination mechanism; (iii) a hard-working technical negotiating team led by a competent Chief Negotiator; (iv) support from partners; and (v) an accession Roadmap with time-bound actions.
Let me provide my assessment on where Uzbekistan’s accession stands vis-à-vis each of these ingredients.
First, political will. In the last 12 months, I met with His Excellency, the President, together with the Assistant to the President, and two Deputy Prime Ministers, and of course, the Chief Negotiator and the Ambassador in Geneva. Their message has been consistent and clear: WTO accession is the top priority for the Government. This is the most critical ingredient to bring accession to conclusion.
Second, inter-ministerial coordination. WTO accession touches upon many if not all spheres of the economy. And as we often say in accessions, negotiations with and among domestic stakeholders are often the toughest, rather than vis-à-vis WTO members. Well-functioning domestic coordination determines the quality and consistency of negotiating inputs, which in turn gives credibility to Uzbekistan’s negotiating team and positions. This is why the constant presence of Deputy Prime Minister Khodjaev, as Chair of Uzbekistan’s inter-agency commission, at the last three Working Party meetings has been critical to the credibility of Uzbekistan’s accession process vis-à-vis WTO members.
Third, the Chief Negotiator and his/her technical team, which runs day-to-day work on the negotiations. I was intimately involved in some of the discussions with DPM Khodjaev and Ms Mirziyoyeva last year regarding the team. I have been impressed by how quickly you put in place a dynamic new team, with a lot of enthusiasm, dedication and focus, which is sensitive and responsive to Members’ requests. This positive change has been acknowledged and appreciated by WTO Members, in addition to my team in the Secretariat.
Fourth, partners who provide critical support in terms of policy advice, technical analysis, training or capacity building. Partners can be bilateral, and may also include your negotiating partners, but also multilateral, such as the IMF and World Bank who are here with us. Since Uzbekistan’s accession has been pursued in the context of the Government’s reforms, collaboration with our Bretton Woods organizations has been very fruitful for the WTO. I believe that this is also the case for Uzbekistan, as their support can help address some of the key reform items to advance the accession negotiations.
Fifth and finally, a Roadmap to conclude the accession. This roadmap must contain a timeline and actions required to conclude the accession. At the most recent Working Party meeting in Geneva, DPM Khodjaev announced the goal of joining the WTO by 2026, in time for the next 14th Ministerial Conference to be held in Cameroon. Many welcomed this goal, while others encouraged Uzbekistan to focus on actions, rather than the timeline. Therefore, my advice to you is to focus on actions in areas where Members have made specific requests and develop a government-wide action plan or roadmap with a specific timeline to achieve WTO consistency for each measure before 2026.
As I landed in Tashkent yesterday, I was heartened to find out that the Presidential Decree had been issued just a few hours earlier. This Decree directly touches upon several areas where Members have expressed concerns about WTO consistency, such as state-trading enterprises (with exclusive rights); export restrictions, the import ban on ethyl alcohol, and export subsidies. I would like to commend the bold step taken by the Government of Uzbekistan to move towards WTO consistency. This is one of the most significant steps taken by the Government since it restarted the accession process in 2020. I believe that this Decree advances the accession process in the right direction.
At the same time, I would like to encourage the Government to continue its efforts to address other areas raised by Members, such as export restrictions maintained through export licensing procedures, customs valuation rules, excise taxes on energy drinks, technical regulations and standards; as well as standards in the area of food safety.
I’m sure that your Government has already embarked on this homework. I can tell you that this part of the accession journey will not be easy. Real reforms are painful and may face internal opposition. But at the same time, they are not impossible. Based on what I have witnessed from the last few years, I am more than confident in the wisdom of the leadership here to complete this accession journey, with the support of the international community. I remain at your full disposal and look forward to accompanying Uzbekistan until the end of this journey.
Thank you.
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