WTO and Uzbekistan. What does integralization to the world economy give us?

Since July 1, 2023, a three-year moratorium on the introduction of a new type of liability and penalties for business entities will be established. This procedure, aimed at further strengthening the legal protection of business entities, was established in the decree of the president of the Republic of Uzbekistan dated February 28, 2023 "on the state program on implementation of the new Uzbekistan development strategy for 2022-2026 in the "year of human attention and quality education".
The moratorium serves to ensure that the reforms carried out in our country towards creating a favorable business and investment environment, the rapid development of entrepreneurship, increasing the volume of exports and expanding its geography are strict and irreversible.
In fact, there is a lot of talk about the scope of work in this direction, and it is possible to hope. But now it will be appropriate to cite some numbers that reflect their effectiveness. In particular, in the last six years, the number of industrial enterprises has increased by 2 times. As a result, last year, the volume of gross domestic product exceeded 80 billion dollars for the first time. In the same year alone, our economy accounted for 8 billion dollars, while foreign investments were attracted, respectively, the volume of exports reached 19 billion dollars. In this case, the main factors of our achievements were the improvement and simplification of legislative acts on their free functioning, the strengthening of the promotion of entrepreneurial activity, the priority of the country to create a value added chain on the way from raw material exports to the export of finished products.
Since Uzbekistan has made a fundamental turn in the manufacturing industry and bold steps with big goals, it is natural that our entrepreneurs will soon need a larger and more guaranteed market, of course. Therefore, in recent years, special attention has been paid to the development of international economic relations in our country, strengthening preferential trade with foreign countries, as well as taking a strong place from world markets on the basis of the production of high-quality competitive products and thereby increasing the export potential of the national economy.
The strong position of our country in the world markets and the development of foreign economic relations largely depend on the further increase in the export potential of the national economy and the effective use of available opportunities. Membership in the World Trade Organization is significant in that it is aimed at the same goal and is instrumental in further enhancing the export potential of our country.
In this regard, Deputy Prime Minister Jamshid Khojaev met with the director general of the World Trade Organization Ngozi Okonjo - -Iveala on March 14 this year in Geneva to discuss the issues of accelerating Uzbekistan's accession to the organization.
The meeting noted the need to activate bilateral negotiations with all Member States of the WTO on penetration into the markets of goods and services and sign relevant statements on their results.
Ngozi Okonjo-Iveala welcomed Uzbekistan's bilateral negotiations with its SA'yharakats, including major member states, within the framework of the organization's membership process. The 6th meeting of the Working Group on the accession of Uzbekistan to the WTO, which lasted for two days, examined the aspects related to this process in detail.
The new Uzbekistan development strategy for 2022-2026 also sets one of the main goals" to join the World Trade Organization and deepen integration processes with the Eurasian Economic Union". In achieving this goal, it is envisaged to carry out such important tasks as negotiating with the member states of the World Trade Organization, increasing the potential of specialists in the field of organization and multilateral trade system, studying the impact of Uzbekistan's membership in the WTO on metallurgy, textiles, food, automotive and national economy, developing a system of protection of the domestic market
Uzbekistan's accession to the WTO creates favorable conditions for further improvement of economic cooperation with other countries, increasing the volume of turnover, increasing external competitiveness by entering new markets.
Let us dwell on what kind of organization it is, what is required to become a member of it, what it gives to member states, the traditions of Uzbekistan in terms of entering into the membership of the organization and their effectiveness.
What structure is the World Trade Organization?
Established in 1995, the World Trade Organization replaced the general agreement on tariffs and trade (GATT) as the only international body dealing with the global rules of trade between states. One of the main goals of the WTO is to combat protectionism.
This organization provides a favorable legal system for the member countries of the organization in international trade relations. The documents adopted by them in mutual agreement are responsible for the countries ' conduct of their trade policy within the established criteria. In the organization, decisions are made by consensus — general voting with the help of participating countries.
The tasks of the WTO are to help regulate the trading process within the framework of a system based on certain rules, objectively resolve trade disputes between governments, organize trade negotiations. This activity is based on 60 agreements of this organization — the main legal norms of international trade and trade policy.
The principles on which these agreements are based include non-discrimination, free trade conditions, promotion of competition, and additional provisions for less developed countries. The WTO strongly requires member countries to liberalize the domestic market. In most countries, this task is not so easy to complete, since national enterprises that cannot compete with foreign enterprises that produce cheap and high-quality products can go into recession.
The WTO is the largest international economic organization in the world. This is also confirmed by the fact that 164 countries are members of it, which make up more than 98% of global trade and global GDP. Currently, the organization aims to join the international trade system of 23 countries in order to strengthen their integration, organizational work is being carried out in this regard.
Uzbekistan is also negotiating entry into the WTO. It plays an important role in strengthening the integration of the international trade system and the world economy. By joining the WTO, they will have important advantages such as a non-discriminatory and fair trade system between the member countries of the organization, the maximum tariff protection and the abolition of import quotas, the importation of goods at low prices to increase the level of competitiveness.
At the same time, it is from the advantages of the organization to promote the protection of the private sector from harmful trade activities, strengthen the activities of institutions engaged in trade in the country, help them regulate legal and institutional policies, actively participate in international trade negotiations, protect the interests of member countries by developing norms related to the development of international trade.
In addition to the fact that the country's accession to the World Trade Organization provides it with the advantages noted above, it also establishes certain obligations for member states. This process consists of long-term and complex negotiations and requires the development and implementation of regulatory legal acts, strengthening human resources and institutional capacity, achieving sustainable development in the industry.
Nearly 30 years of membership process
Uzbekistan's preparation for membership in the WTO began in 1994, but this process was frozen in 2005 due to policies aimed at supporting local producers. The average membership process of each state in the WTO is 9-10, and for some countries it is 12-15 years. Despite the fact that Uzbekistan submitted an application in 1995, only from 2017 there is a positive shift. It can be shown as an important aspect that in recent years, strict measures have been taken towards reducing the role and participation of the state in the economy of the Republic, the widespread introduction of market principles and mechanisms to control sectors of the economy, promoting the development of private entrepreneurship, improving the business environment and reducing the share of the "khufyona" economy.
It also had a positive impact on the development of foreign economic activity in order to increase the export potential, the widespread involvement of foreign capital, the well-being of the population and the implementation of impressive measures aimed at a specific goal of increasing the standard of living.
As a result of active reforms in our country on the stabilization of the national economy, which began after 2016, as well as the liberalization of foreign economic activity, since March 2018 Uzbekistan's entry into the WTO has entered the agenda. In July 2019, Uzbekistan submitted an updated memorandum on the foreign trade regime on entry into the WTO membership and a number of other documents, including preliminary proposals developed for entry into the market of goods and services.
The five-year project developed to" promote Uzbekistan's entry into the WTO " is supported by the European Union. This project began in February 2020, with the main emphasis on supporting the country's development plans to modernize the national economy in the process of joining the WTO.