“There should be no resistance to integration.” WB representative Ayhan Kose on Uzbekistan's accession to the WTO

“Integration should not be resisted.” WB representative Ayhan Kose on Uzbekistan's accession to the WTO

Accession to the World Trade Organization will increase Uzbekistan's vulnerability to global shocks, but the country should not resist integration in response, he recommended.

In the first episode of the project, CB specialists Behruz Ahmedov and Nurbek Omonov, together with project guest Ayhan Kose, discussed the paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research and co-authored by Kristin Forbes, Jongrim Ha, and Ayhan Kose, titled “Heaven or Earth: The Evolving Role of Global Shocks for Domestic Monetary Policy.”

It was noted that Uzbekistan is on the verge of joining the WTO, which, along with deeper integration of the country into the global economy, will also increase its vulnerability to global shocks. Therefore, the WB specialist was asked how the economy of Uzbekistan could mitigate potential risks.

Answering the question, Ayhan Kose listed the benefits of integration and noted that, most importantly, integration should not be resisted.

“Undoubtedly, accession [to the WTO] can bring significant benefits by expanding trade, increasing competition, attracting investment, and, of course, boosting productivity. Deeper integration also means that the impact of global demand, commodity prices, supply chains, and financial conditions on the domestic economy will increase. Therefore, you need to take these issues into account. At the same time, the response, no matter what, should be not to resist integration,” he said.

According to Kose, integration has been proven to bring great benefits to emerging market economies in the long run. He emphasized that, most importantly, as integration increases, stability must also be strengthened, because the economy will begin to absorb more shocks than before.

As ways to mitigate potential risks for Uzbekistan in the context of deep integration, Ayhan Kose listed the following:

In fact, the specialist noted, this is not an observation unique to Uzbekistan, but a policy recommendation given to any country entering the integration process.

Uzbekistan submitted its application to join the WTO in 1994. Active negotiations on the terms of membership resumed in 2020.

The process of accession to the WTO was planned to be completed by March 2026, before the organization's 14th Ministerial Conference, but this did not happen. Azizbek Urunov stated that some countries were delaying the review of documents.

At the end of last year, he noted that there was a risk of an “unexpected slowdown” in the process.

In May, at a meeting under the president, it was stated that Uzbekistan still intends to join the WTO in 2026.

As of the beginning of the year, Uzbekistan had completed negotiations with 33 out of 34 members of the organization.

Following the results of the 13th meeting of the working group on accession to the WTO held on July 27-28, the chief negotiator, Special Representative of the President of Uzbekistan on WTO issues Azizbek Urunov, announced that Uzbekistan intends to complete the process of accession to the World Trade Organization in 2026.