On April 2, exactly a month after Tajikistan’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), the International Trade Center (ITC) gathered Tajik telecommunications business managers and business experts in Dushanbe city for a learning program to discuss the ways of benefiting from Tajikistan’s accession to WTO, and solving the challenges from this membership.

The training formally titled “Making the Most of WTO Accession: Telecommunications Services Commitments and Liberalization” is being held from April 2-3 under ITC project, Implementation of WTO Provisions and Business Awareness of WTO Accession, which is funded by the Government of Switzerland through the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO).

According to press release issued by ITC, authorities, mobile and Internet providers, business associations, international organizations, as well as academia have come together to learn about the WTO rules and regulations applicable to Tajikistan commitments on telecommunications services, as well as its effect to service providers.

Ms. Lee Tuthill from the World Trade Organization is providing the training participants with the general overview of WTO key principles on telecommunication.  She is attracting the attention of the participants to rationale and the benefits of pro-competitive reforms which have been carried out by WTO members to liberalize the telecommunications sector.  Additionally, the business implications stemming from these reforms are being described.

Ms. Tuthill says: “The ability of the private sector to seize the opportunities presented by this system depends to a great extent on the implementation of the Government’s commitment to complete the domestic policy reform agenda based on solid consensus that will serve the interests of all among the major stakeholders - businesses, consumers, and telecom suppliers.  WTO members strive to establish a business environment which is conducive to private investments in the economy.”

Mr. Jean-Sebastien Roure, Senior Officer, ITC Business & Trade Policy Section says: “WTO membership no doubt obliges Member Governments to complete domestic reforms.  It is also well recognized that in the post accession period, the completion of the reforms on the services sector is of utmost importance.”

The Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Tajikistan is describing the market access commitments taken by country with respect to telecommunications.

Mr. Saidrahmon Nazriyev, Tajik Deputy Minister of the Economic Development and Trade, says: “The country remains committed to continue the implementations of the reforms in the telecommunications sector, as well as in all other sectors of the economy, to bring all regulations in accordance with WTO requirements.  Our membership in WTO, no doubt, will assist the republic in formation of the atmosphere of competitiveness for the business sector.”

The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an organization that intends to supervise and liberalize international trade.  The organization officially commenced on January 1, 1995 under the Marrakech Agreement, replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which commenced in 1948.  The organization deals with regulation of trade between participating countries; it provides a framework for negotiating and formalizing trade agreements, and a dispute resolution process aimed at enforcing participants' adherence to WTO agreements, which are signed by representatives of member governments and ratified by their parliaments.

Tajikistan became the 159th member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) on March 2, 2013, following Kyrgyzstan as the only WTO members so far from among Central Asia's five post-Soviet republics.

The International Trade Center (ITC), through its on-going technical assistance project, is committed to support Tajikistan private sector in strengthening its knowledge of the opportunities and challenges from the WTO membership.  To achieve this, the awareness of the private sector in the targeted sectors of agro industrial products, textiles, and financial, telecommunications, transport and energy services will be increased so that they understand the business implications of WTO accession and trade policy.