BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 19. The UK Government is highly supportive of Uzbekistan’s aims to accede to the World Trade Organization (WTO), which will further boost opportunities for British and Uzbek businesses to work together, British Ambassador to Uzbekistan Timothy Smart told Trend.
"In this regard, we assist the Government of Uzbekistan in providing recommendations on harmonizing legislation with international agreements and standards, particularly in the area of intellectual property rights protection. We expect that these technical assistance projects will accelerate the WTO accession process and help further boost innovative development in the country," he said.
He further noted that the UK is keen to support Uzbekistan’s ambitious privatization program including through working with the London Stock Exchange and the UK’s world-leading financial and business services sector.
"UK Export Finance (UKEF) provides a platform for UK Government support to large-scale projects in Uzbekistan, hat in turn will advance bilateral trade. Over the next couple of years technical assistance on effective economic governance and delivery of reforms will continue to be provided through the Effective Governance for Economic Development (EGED) program in such policy areas as green transition, SOE transformation, further development of e-commerce and the private sector in Uzbekistan, as well gender mainstreaming and support to labor market reforms," the ambassador noted.
