Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 4-6 December 2019, Deputy Minister of Investments and Foreign Trade B. Abidov took part in the eighth round of the round table “WTO Accession and Reform: Towards the Ministerial Conference in 2020.”

On the agenda was a discussion of reforms in the World Trade Organization system, the most promising practices of states joining the Organization and preparations for the 12th WTO Ministerial Conference, which will be held in Nur Sultan in June 2020.

The round table was attended by over 100 delegates, including WTO Deputy Director General A. Wolfe, Minister of Economic Development of Russia M. Oreshkin, Minister of Industry and Trade of Afghanistan A. Ahmadi, First Deputy Minister of Economic Development of Tajikistan Z. Zavkizoda, representatives of countries currently in the process of joining the WTO: Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Comoros, Ethiopia and others.

The participants discussed the current problems that impede the effective functioning of the Organization, the prospects for including new directions in the WTO, the current state of accession of new states, the interaction of the World Trade Organization and regional economic cooperation organizations.

In addition, a meeting was organized by an informal group of countries joining the WTO, during which current issues related to this process were raised, as well as joint efforts to develop proposals to address them.