Remote video conferences were held in Turkmenistan as part of the joint project "Turkmenistan: Trade Stability and Integration," bringing together instructors and participants from the Academy of Public Administration under the President of Turkmenistan, leading specialists from the Ministry of Finance and Economy of Turkmenistan, and experts from the International Trade Centre (ITC). This was reported on the website of the Academy of Public Administration under the President of Turkmenistan.
The event was aimed at enhancing the qualifications of civil servants in the field of foreign economic relations. During the seminar, examples were given of the ongoing work to harmoniously integrate the country into the world economy, introduce modern principles into international trade relations, improve the foreign trade system, and bring national legislation into line with WTO standards and norms.
The training was led by Peter Van den Bossche, an expert in international economic law and professor at Xi'an Jiaotong University. On the first day, the topics "The Collapse of International Trade and the Multilateral Trading System in 2026" and "The World Trade Organization and Its Main Objectives" were covered, presenting an overview of the current state of world trade, the causes of uncertainty in this area, the history of the WTO, its role as a forum for negotiations, its dispute settlement system, and its trade policy review mechanism.
On the second day, Peter Van den Bossche conducted the third session — "Overview of WTO Rules" — during which participants received information on market access, tariff levels on goods, commitments on services, as well as the organization's core principles, the "most-favored-nation" rule and "national treatment." Participants also completed a practical training course on changes in trade policy.
As part of the seminar, a staff member of the International Trade Centre presented on "The Benefits of WTO Accession and Membership," providing a detailed overview of the stages of accession to the World Trade Organization and the three main areas of negotiation.
