PH backs Uzbekistan membership in world trade body

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Manila has signed an agreement with Tashkent to support the latter’s long-running effort to be part of the World Trade Organization (WTO), according to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

The DTI said that a signing ceremony took place last month, marking the successful conclusion of bilateral market access negotiations on trade in goods and services between the two Asian economies.

“This signing ceremony underscores the spirit of international cooperation and the Philippines’ support for Uzbekistan’s integration into the global economy,” said Ambassador Manuel Teehankee, the Philippines’ permanent representative to the WTO.

“It also underscores the mutual potential for economic collaboration and growth between our two countries. We look forward to strengthening our partnership in trade and investment as Uzbekistan takes this historic step toward becoming a full-fledged WTO member,” he added.

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The trade department said that Uzbekistan’s accession process has been ongoing since the establishment of its working party in December 1994.

Based on data at the Observatory of Economic Complexity as of 2022, the Philippines exported to Uzbekistan $4.69 million worth of goods, mainly including vegetable saps, office machine parts and industrial food preparation machinery.

In the same year, Uzbekistan exported to the Philippines $2.3 million worth of goods, mainly potassic fertilizers, nitrogenous fertilizers and packaged medicaments.

With the conclusion of bilateral negotiations, Uzbekistan is now closer to the adoption of its accession package, said the DTI.

Long process

In the accession process, a working party is established to examine the application and to submit recommendations to the WTO’s general council or ministerial conference.

After the establishment of a working party, the bilateral, plurilateral and multilateral negotiations subsequently take place simultaneously.

Negotiations on tariff concessions and services are conducted bilaterally on the basis of offers and requests between the acceding government and the interested member.

The Philippines is among the 33 WTO members actively engaged in these bilateral negotiations with Uzbekistan.

By completing this step, the DTI said that both economies have “laid the foundation for deeper economic ties and demonstrated their shared commitment to the rules-based multilateral trading system.”