Turkmenistan should enter in WTO?It is on the way to be a member

That week, WTO enters in negotiation on the accession to the organization. This country located in Central Asia is the last of the former Soviet republics to apply for WTO membership. Its has a population of about 6.2 million of citizens. The country is the fourth largest reserves of natural gas and substantial oil resources in the world. By the way, It provides an electrical power to Central Asian republics and southern neighbors. In 2019, total electrical energy generation in Turkmenistan reportedly totaled 22,521.6 million kilowatt-hours (22.52 terawatt-hours. Year by year, Turkmenistan gains economy in development of agriculture air, maritime and rail transport to export it to various countries.

A step to enter to WTO

The General Council of UN agreed to establish what is called a “Working Party” which will oversee negotiations between members and Turkmenistan on the terms of its accession. Before this step, Turkmenistan filed and sent its application to join the WTO under Article XII of the Marrakesh Agreement was formally received on 24 November 2021.

The Ambassador Dacio Castillo of Honduras, chair of the General Council, congratulated the government of Turkmenistan on the successful establishment of the Working Party and the “start of its accession journey.”

The Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said the decision to establish a working party “marks a significant step in Turkmenistan’s relationship with the multilateral trading system.” She noted that the country became an observer to the GATT in July 1992, soon after its independence, and obtained WTO observer status in July 2020.

Ambassador Atageldi Haljanov, Permanent Representative of Turkmenistan to the United Nations and other international organizations in Geneva, thanked WTO members for supporting and accepting his country’s application for WTO accession.

In the same situation, 23 countries and territories are in the process of negotiating their WTO membership. The recent invasion of Russia in Ukraine that has still killed people, will change some relations with the Kremlin as Belaruss may do in few days.