Equipment acquired to bolster project that supports Uzbekistan’s WTO membership application process
11.02.2022 675
The European Union (EU) has exceptionally granted permission to purchase a set of IT equipment to bolster the Uzbekistan’s WTO accession team through the project ‘Facilitating the process of Uzbekistan's accession to the WTO’.
The project provides support to Uzbekistan’s negotiators, including the Ministry of Investments and Foreign Trade of the Republic of Uzbekistan (MIFT) and other public agencies, in their preparations and participation in the accession negotiations and to conduct domestic policy reforms.
The project, which is funded by the EU with the ITC as an implementing partner, is also a key pillar in building technical capacity and expertise among government officials in the area of WTO rules and accession negotiations.
The request for the equipment came from the project partners in order to facilitate the implementation of the project’s activities as well as participation in the negotiations.
The procurement includes video conferencing equipment as well as office equipment, such as two laptops, four desktop computers, four iPads, two printers and a comb binding system.
While the provision of IT equipment was not envisaged in the original project documents, the procurement was exceptionally granted to support the workings of the negotiating team and auxiliary services in Tashkent. The video conferencing equipment, for instance, will greatly facilitate remote participation in negotiations and other strategic meetings – a necessity to eliminate excessive travel in Covid times.
The equipment was procured by means of a fully-fledged tender procedure, carried out by the United Nations Development Programme in Tashkent, the vendor was selected through a competitive bid process in line with principles of transparency, fairness and effective competition.
The IT devices and equipment were successfully procured in January 2022 and all devices are branded with the EU and project logo.