On 4-5 July, WTO Deputy Director-General Ambassador Xiangchen Zhang paid an official visit to Turkmenistan. The visit took place five months after WTO members agreed to initiate negotiations on the accession of Turkmenistan to the organization.

During a bilateral meeting with the EU Delegation to Turkmenistan the possible engagement of the EU was discussed. Ms Renata Wrobel as Charge d’Affairs commend the Government of Turkmenistan for making this important step which was the result of many years of hard work at the domestic front. She underlined the experience of the International Trade Centre (ITC) as an implementing partner of the EU funded regional project Ready4Trade in Turkmenistan and their longstanding experience in assisting countries on their path towards the WTO accession. The EU stands ready to provide further assistance to Turkmenistan on its economic reforms and WTO accession, she reaffirmed.

Further a roundtable on technical assistance with development partners was organized by the Turkmen MFA, where the EU Delegation and representatives from different international organizations and national foreign aid agencies indicated their ways of possible cooperation.