At Iraq’s third negotiating meeting with the World Trade Organization, discussions were held at its headquarters in Geneva, headed by the Iraqi Minister of Trade.
The Ministry of Trade announced in an official statement today, Thursday, that discussions of Iraq’s third negotiating meeting with the World Trade Organization would be held at the organization’s headquarters in Geneva. The ministry’s statement stated that the Minister of Trade and the head of the team concerned with Iraq’s accession to the World Trade Organization chaired the Iraqi side in the third negotiating meeting, in the presence of the Deputy Director General of the organization, Zhang Xingqin, the head of the work team for Iraq’s accession, the members of the team and representatives of the WTO countries.
During his speech at the meeting, Minister Al-Ghurairi pointed out the importance of Iraq being part of the rules-based multilateral trading system. The Minister stressed that we are happy to hold the third meeting of the working group, sixteen years after the last meeting of the working group, which represents a fundamental step for the government and people on our way to joining, in addition to being a means through which we seek to achieve development and diversification of our national economy and our integration with the global economy.
The minister pointed out that the Iraqi government is committed to its economic reform program by strengthening trade policy, improving the business environment, and creating suitable conditions for foreign investment, and that joining the World Trade Organization will contribute significantly to enhancing transparency, encouraging competition, and stimulating sustainable economic growth for Iraq.
Emphasizing that the new Iraqi government, led by Prime Minister Mr. Muhammad Shiaa Al-Sudani, and within its government program, set a clear vision for the future of economic liberalization in Iraq, which included setting timetables and a time plan to achieve the liberalization process and focusing on sectors with high potential such as agriculture, industry, and services, which stipulated support for local investments. Foreign and foreign affairs, unifying customs policies at all borders, and other measures to facilitate trade and investment and create investment opportunities.
The Minister mentioned that the government also attached special importance to aligning its trade policy and regulatory legislation with international capabilities, rules, and standards and strengthening institutional capabilities to effectively meet the requirements of the World Trade Organization.
