The main purpose of the event organized within the framework of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) program "Trade in Central Asia" is to discuss the latest trends in the development of international trade, the role of the WTO in maintaining the stability of world trade and economic reforms.

The conference was attended by Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan Jamshid Khojayev, Special Representative of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan on WTO Issues Aziz Urunov, US Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Uzbekistan Jonathan Henick, Head of the EU Delegation to Uzbekistan Charlotte Adrian, Deputy Director General of the WTO Xiangchen Zhang, Professor at the Institute of World Trade in Bern Peter Van Den Bosch, heads of representative offices of international organizations in Uzbekistan, representatives of the private sector, academia, as well as ministries and departments of Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, etc.

Addressing the participants with a welcoming speech, Deputy Prime Minister Jamshid Khodjayev stressed the importance of developing international trade relations to ensure the sustainability of economies, noted the main trends and challenges of world trade, highlighting the importance of accelerating the process of Uzbekistan's accession to the WTO.

During the regional conference, panel sessions were held on post-pandemic trends in world trade, issues of newly joining the WTO countries and problems of implementing WTO rules in the field of food safety. Experts were able to discuss the removal of barriers to trade, the development of "green" and digital trade, the main advantages and key issues of WTO membership, the introduction of innovations, sanitary and phytosanitary standards in agricultural production and other issues.

At the end of the conference, the importance of holding such events was noted in order to raise awareness of governments, business and society about current development trends and existing problems in international trade, coordinate joint measures to implement economic reforms and strengthen the role of the Central Asian region as a unique transit hub connecting Asia and Europe, the press service of the MIPT reports.