In this context, the Chairperson encouraged members to continue providing Iraq with the necessary technical assistance and support in order to sustain this positive momentum.
"The Working Party is encouraged by the political commitment demonstrated by the Government of Iraq to resume its accession process and the technical progress being made. I would also like to thank members for their support and words of encouragement directed to Iraq, in particular, for their readiness to engage with Iraq, once all the necessary negotiating inputs are on the table in the near term. The focus now is to translate these words into concrete action by holding the third meeting of the Working Party in 2018," the Chairperson said.
Background
The Working Party on the accession of Iraq was established in December 2004. Nine months later, in September 2005, Iraq circulated the Memorandum on the Foreign Trade Regime, which was reviewed together with the initial set of questions and answers by the Working Party at its first meeting in May 2007.
The examination of Iraq's trade regime continued in a second meeting in April 2008 on the basis of the second round of questions and answers, together with additional negotiating inputs including a Legislative Action Plan, checklists for sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures and technical barriers to trade, a questionnaire on trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights (TRIPS) and agricultural supporting tables.
No activity had taken place at the level of the Working Party since the second meeting.
Next steps
The Chairperson stated that if Iraq submits all the necessary updated negotiating inputs in the timeline envisioned, the third formal meeting of the Working Party could be convened in 2018.
(Source: WTO)
Comments are closed.