Working Party Chair visits Baghdad to hold high-level consultations on Iraq’s accession
16 JANUARY 2024
ACCESSIONS
The Chair of Iraq’s Accession Working Party, Ambassador Saqer AlMoqbel of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, visited Baghdad on 15-16 January 2024 to galvanize political support for the resumption of Iraq’s WTO accession process.
The Chair engaged in high-level meetings with the Government, emphasizing the importance of the accession process to advance Baghdad’s economic reforms. The Government of Iraq affirmed its full commitment to an early resumption of the process by enacting the necessary economic and legal reforms.
The Chair's visit was the first by a WTO delegation to Iraq, whose accession process started in 2004. It focused on the resumption of the work of Iraq's Working Party, which last met formally in April 2008. His visit started with a meeting with President Abdul Latif Rashid, who affirmed “Iraq's keenness to join the WTO by achieving the commercial and economic standards” and highlighted the work of Iraq's National Committee on WTO Accession to prepare for the formal resumption.
During his two-day visit, the Chair also met with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Planning Mohamed Tamim, Minister of Trade and Chair of the Iraqi National Committee on WTO Accession Atheer Al Ghurairi, the Head of the Parliamentary Economic Industry and Trade Committee Ahmed Al Kinani and the Representative for the Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammad Hussain Al Uloom. He was also invited to attend the 36th meeting of the Iraqi National Committee on WTO Accession.
Ambassador AlMoqbel, appointed as Chair in June 2023, stressed the strategic importance of Iraq's accession for the WTO membership, and especially for the Arab region, which is currently one of the most underrepresented in the organization.
“Iraq is one of the largest economies which remains outside the multilateral trading system,” he said, highlighting the benefits of WTO membership for Saudi Arabia, which joined the organization in 2005. “Given its strategic location, Iraq's integration into the global economy through WTO membership can help deepen regional economic integration, which in turn can contribute to peace and security in the region,” he added.
All meetings confirmed the strong political will to accede to the WTO by the government, which believes that the accession process can contribute to “consolidating security and stability, developing economic activity, encouraging foreign investment in the country, in addition to consolidating relations with neighbouring countries and the world,” as explained by President Rashid.
Despite the lack of formal engagement since 2008, the Working Party met informally in November 2017 and discussed how to reactivate its technical work. In 2022, Iraq circulated eight key accession documents, including the revised Memorandum on the Foreign Trade Regime (MFTR), replies to members' questions, a revised Legislative Action Plan, updated information on agricultural domestic support, and questionnaires on import licensing and customs valuation,
During the visit to Baghdad, the Chair was informed that Iraq's initial market access offers on goods and services would be circulated soon, in preparation for holding the 3rd meeting of the Working Party in the middle of 2024.
The team in the Ministry of Trade will “take real steps that will shorten the path to Iraq's accession to the World Trade Organization and ultimately benefit from the advantages offered by this accession,” indicated Minister Al Ghurairi.
The Chair also met with representatives of the European Union and the United States as well as the International Trade Centre (ITC), which provide technical assistance to Iraq. “Addressing Iraq's technical assistance needs would go a long way in facilitating the resumption of the accession work,” he noted.
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