30 May 2007 (People’s Daily Online)

Ambassadors to the World Trade Organization (WTO) on Friday held their first meeting on Iraq’s membership application to the 150-member trade body.

The meeting was participated by a high-level delegation from Iraq, which was led by Iraqi Trade Minister Dr. Hammadi al-Sudani. It aimed to discuss and examine Iraq’s trade legislation and its formity to WTO principles.

During the meeting, all WTO members expressed their strong support for Iraq’s accession and most of them stated that this accession would have a positive impact on Iraq’s economic development and contribute to strengthen the multilateral trading system, trade officials said.

Al-Sudani said Iraq’s joining the WTO would be an important step toward its integration into the global trading system and would restore “its position within the international community after decades of isolation.”

Iraq formally applied for WTO membership in 2004. WTO members said the accession process would be long and challenging mainly due to Iraq’s political instability.

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