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.