Bilateral meetings between the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, representatives of the Government of Uzbekistan, and the United States Trade Representative Ambassador Katherine Tai took place in Tashkent on June 12.
The United States and Uzbekistan affirmed their commitment to diversifying the bilateral trade and investment relationship and to deepening dialogue on shared economic priorities. Ambassador Tai noted general support for U.S. Congressional efforts to revitalize and renew the Generalized System of Preferences program and recognized GSP’s role in supporting export diversification in Uzbekistan. Ambassador Tai welcomed engagement on reforms in Uzbekistan as well as Uzbekistan’s interest in the expeditious termination of the application of the Jackson-Vanik amendment.
The United States expressed full support for Uzbekistan’s firm commitment to prioritizing WTO accession and pledged support for ongoing domestic reforms to align Uzbekistan’s trading regime with WTO rules and principles.
Uzbekistan noted its ongoing progress on trade related intellectual property, in order to accelerate WTO accession process. Ambassador Tai congratulated Uzbekistan on being removed from the Special 301 Watch List, due to sustained improvement in the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights. Uzbekistan expressed readiness to continue working closely together on intellectual property rights issues, including to address reported increases in the availability of counterfeit goods within the country.
The United States and Uzbekistan committed to further collaboration on women’s economic empowerment and disability rights, highlighting the importance of ensuring that the benefits of trade extend to all workers, and supply chain resilience.
