Representatives of the Secretariat of the World Trade Organization (WTO) have praised Turkmenistan’s preparations for accession to the organization following a three-day working visit to Ashgabat.
The WTO delegation, comprising Maika Oshikawa and Anna Varyanik, held meetings with heads of key ministries and agencies, including the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Finance and Economy, as well as members of the Interagency Coordination Commission, according to official Turkmen media reports on Thursday.
The main focus of the consultations was the preparation of Turkmenistan’s Memorandum on the Foreign Trade Regime, which is expected to be submitted to the WTO Secretariat in the near future. Director of the Accessions Division Maika Oshikawa noted the high level of the document’s preparation, emphasizing that among more than twenty accession processes, Turkmenistan’s memorandum is one of the most thoroughly developed.
The document was prepared by the Ministry of Finance and Economy in cooperation with relevant government institutions.
WTO experts also positively assessed Turkmenistan’s ongoing efforts to improve its legal and regulatory framework. The country continues to draft legislation in areas such as competition, standardization, technical regulation, and trade defense measures to align national laws with WTO requirements.
Turkmenistan’s official application for WTO membership was accepted on November 24, 2021. In February 2022, the country was granted observer status as an “accession country” within the WTO process.
