The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Turkmenistan’s Ministry of Finance and Economy are conducting a series of training sessions from October 5 to 14 to strengthen the country’s capacity to join the World Trade Organization (WTO).
The program is being implemented under the joint UNDP–ministry project “Partnering for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Acceleration, Phase IV,” with financial and expert support from Russia.
The training covers international trade, WTO membership requirements and the practical application of multilateral trading system rules. Participants are examining trade and industrial policy, national economic competitiveness, support for domestic producers and food security.
The program also addresses WTO legislation, trade dispute settlement mechanisms and ways to protect Turkmenistan’s economic interests in international markets.
More than 35 specialists from government agencies and higher education institutions are taking part, including representatives of the Mejlis, the ministries of foreign affairs, finance and economy, justice, and trade and foreign economic relations, as well as the Central Bank and the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs.
A lecture scheduled for October 14 at the Institute of International Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will bring together faculty members and students to examine international experience in WTO accession and opportunities for integration into the global economy.
The initiative aims to strengthen professional and institutional expertise in international trade, improve understanding of WTO legal and institutional frameworks, and facilitate the exchange of international experience as Turkmenistan pursues accession to the multilateral trading system.
The developments come as neighbouring Uzbekistan also advances its WTO accession process, with the government aiming to complete membership negotiations in 2026. At the 13th meeting of the WTO Working Party on Uzbekistan’s accession, the country reported that it had aligned 190 legislative acts with WTO rules since March, while 31 bilateral market access agreements had been deposited with the WTO Secretariat. Uzbekistan first applied for WTO membership in 1994 and has been actively negotiating accession terms since 2020.