In the premises of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan, a meeting was held between the Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan Rashid Meredov and the Deputy Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Zhang Xiangchen, who arrived in Ashgabat on a working visit.

During the meeting, it was noted that in recent years, relations between Turkmenistan and the WTO have noticeably intensified. As is known, in February of this year, during a meeting of the WTO General Council, the Turkmen side officially applied for accession to the WTO, in accordance with Article XII of the Marrakesh Agreement. Based on the results of consideration, the member countries of the WTO General Council unanimously approved the application of Turkmenistan and decided to grant it the status of an "acceding country". The Head of the Foreign Ministry expressed his sincere gratitude to the WTO Secretariat, as well as to the member countries for supporting the application of Turkmenistan.

It was also noted that the growing trends of economic globalization in the modern world, especially after the pandemic situation, set the task for Turkmenistan to more intensively integrate into the system of international trade and economic relations. One of the effective ways to achieve these goals is to build up comprehensive cooperation with the WTO.

R. Meredov informed the Deputy Director General of the Organization about the preparatory work being carried out in the country for joining the WTO, which includes improving the national legislative framework, foreign trade procedures and rules, as well as explanatory work among the population and business circles through the media.