Uzbekistan and the World Trade Organization

Uzbekistan is actively pushing to achieve WTO membership after what will have been the longest accession negotiations ever. Uzbekistan’s application to join the WTO dates from December 1994 but became dormant in the 2000s while still at a fairly early stage. After President Karimov died in August 2016, the process was reactivated by his successor, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev. The lengthy break was related to Karimov’s inward-looking and interventionist economic development strategy and the revival after 2016 is associated with Mirziyoyev’s more outward-oriented strategy. This paper analyses the evolution of Uzbekistan’s application and the evolution of the WTO over this period. The answer to the question of whether Uzbekistan will, or should, join the WTO depends on the commitment to economic reform. If the government is serious about replacing dependence on resource exports by a more diversified competitive economy, then Uzbekistan will achieve and benefit from WTO membership. If the economy remains resistant to fundamental reform, then accession will be difficult and of little value if it happens.

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