WASHINGTON — A joint announcement from the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) and Uzbekistan confirmed that the country opened its market to meat and poultry from the United States.

The agency stated that the two governments authorized US meat establishments to export products to Uzbekistan as of June 1.

USTR Ambassador Katherine Tai recently held bilateral meetings with Shavkat Mirziyoyev, president of Uzbekistan.

“The United States and Uzbekistan were pleased with the significant progress made this year in bilateral market access negotiations and extended mutual interest in their completion in the near future,” the two countries said in a joint statement.

Uzbekistan is also looking to become a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

“As part of an active accession process, the United States welcomed Uzbekistan’s efforts to date in aligning its national legislation and practices in line with WTO agreements,” the joint statement said. “In particular, advancing efforts to bring Uzbekistan’s trade facilitation measures into conformity with the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement was a strong indication of its commitment to the multilateral trading system.”

Uzbekistan wants to continue working closely on intellectual property rights, including addressing reported increases in the availability of counterfeit goods within the country.

Following the USTR's release of the information, the US Meat Export Federation (USMEF) provided some insights into MEAT+POULTRY.

"Since Uzbekistan implemented a facility registration measure in 2021, only 29 U.S. meat and poultry facilities were approved by Uzbekistan to be eligible for export to the country," said Erin Borror, USMEF vice president of economic analysis. "USTR and USDA have been engaging with Uzbekistan to remove these restrictions, and USMEF appreciates the recently announced positive outcome."

USMEF added that the restrictions were lifted starting on June 1 but the FSIS Export Library has not been updated yet. 

The restrictions were lifted effective June 1, but the FSIS Export Library has not yet been updated.

According to number from the USMEF, reported exports of beef and beef variety meats destined for Uzbekistan from January through April totaled roughly 8,100 mt, led by India (4,750 mt), Kazakhstan (3,260 mt), Brazil (83 mt) and the United States (3 mt). Reported January-April pork shipments to Uzbekistan included 96 mt from the European Union (down 18% year-over-year) and 20 mt from Brazil (up from zero).