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Lamy’s speeches
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Review of Iraq's trading system
Iraq's Trade Minister H.E. Dr. Al-Sudani
stated that “Iraq's joining the WTO is an important step towards its
integration into the global trading system and restores its position
within the international community after decades of isolation”. He
emphasized that WTO accession was essential to integrate into the
global economy and a priority for his Government.
The Chair of Iraq's Working Party H.E.
Claudia Uribe, Ambassador for Colombia, declared the meeting to be a
significant event in WTO's calendar of activities and said that “the
presence of a high-level delegation from Baghdad demonstrated Iraq's
strong commitment to its accession to the WTO”.
Members strongly supported Iraq's
accession and welcomed the commencement of multilateral work in
Geneva. Members acknowledged the progress made by Iraq in passing or
drafting new legislation to comply with WTO rules. Areas for further
work were identified.
Iraq called for technical assistance to
help the country accede the WTO and members stated their willingness
to help Iraq advance the accession process in every possible way.
Bilateral Meetings
Iraq met bilaterally with Brazil, Chinese
Taipei, Egypt, the EU, Jordan Morocco, Norway, Oman, the United Arab
Emirates, the US, and Viet Nam. Iraq was invited to submit initial
offers to advance their market access negotiations on goods and
services.
Next steps
Iraq will prepare documents on
agriculture, services, technical barriers to trade, sanitary and
phytosanitary issues and intellectual property. It will also prepare
a general legislative action plan providing members with a state of
play of current and future legislation.
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