Economist calls on the government to delay joining the World Trade Organization

 Economy News – Baghdad

Today, Thursday, economic expert, Bassam Raad, called on the Iraqi government to delay Iraq’s accession to the World Trade Organization. 

Raad said in an interview with Al-Eqtisad News, “Iraq, which has observer status in the World Trade Organization, seeks to join it after the removal of political restrictions that prevented this, including its exit from Chapter VII procedures of the United Nations Charter.”

He added, “This endeavor has positive effects, including expanding economic partnerships and integrating it into the global economy, but on the other hand it represents a problem, especially since the demands of the World Trade Organization are to allow the access of its members’ trade to the markets and to free trade from all restrictions, as it is an organization of producing and manufacturing countries, which means opening the Iraqi local markets to imports, and thus negatively affecting any attempt to rebuild the productive, industrial and agricultural sectors and leaving the economic horizon dependent on consumer imports coming from abroad.”

The economic expert explained that “since Iraq depends on oil exports and oil is not subject to customs barriers by importing countries, it should be cautious before seeking to join the World Trade Organization and work towards economic reform and begin implementing plans to diversify local production and build industrial capabilities that support the trend towards exporting abroad, which contributes to enhancing the positive effects of the accession process.”

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