Uzbekistan has called for enhancing the effectiveness of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) free trade zone. This was stated by Uzbek Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov during a meeting of the Council of Heads of Government of the CIS member states on December 12.
In his speech, he emphasized the country's commitment to further liberalizing trade relations and deepening cooperative ties with CIS partners.
“First and foremost, it is important to activate joint efforts to ensure the proper and effective functioning of the free trade zone across the Commonwealth without exceptions and restrictions,” said the Prime Minister.
To transition to seamless trade with CIS members, Uzbekistan is finalizing procedures to adhere to the rules for determining the country of origin of goods established in 2009 and is unifying excise tax rates on imported and domestically produced goods.
Uzbekistan is also completing its domestic procedures for ratifying the agreement on the free trade of services, establishing activities, and making investments.
“We urge our CIS partners to take similar measures—first and foremost, to eliminate tariff and non-tariff measures applied to certain raw and food products,” emphasized Aripov.
The head of government advocated for the swift coordination and adoption of a comprehensive set of additional measures developed by Uzbekistan aimed at attracting and stimulating investments within the CIS for the period up to 2030.
In his view, this will enhance the investment climate and attract mutual direct investments. To simplify mutual access to markets among CIS countries, he proposed intensifying efforts to coordinate projects for agreements on technical barriers and mutual recognition of accreditation by conformity assessment bodies.
“Today, 14 branches of leading Russian universities successfully operate in Uzbekistan. This year, we began joint work with our Russian partners to open a branch of Bauman University in Tashkent,” noted the official.
As a result of the meeting, 18 documents were signed, including:
- a memorandum of cooperation among CIS member states in the field of digital transformation of the transport complex;
- an agreement on cooperation among CIS member states in the development of civil shipbuilding and the production of ship equipment;
- a protocol decision by the CIS Heads of Government Council on barriers to mutual trade among CIS member states.
In June 2023, Uzbekistan signed an agreement on the free trade of services and investment within the CIS.
Earlier, Spot reported that Thailand and Uzbekistan signed a protocol on joining the WTO.