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Iraq is preparing a plan to join the World Trade Organization in early 2021


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United States and Iraq Hold Inaugural Trade and Investment Framework Agreement Meeting and Register Progress on Bilateral Issues

 

03/05/2014

Washington, D.C. - Today, senior representatives of the governments of the United States and Iraq held the inaugural meeting in Washington of the United States-Iraq Council on Trade and Investment (TIFA Council), which was established under the United States-Iraq Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA).  The dialogue under the TIFA reaffirms both governments’ commitment to increase bilateral trade and investment. 

Both governments place strong importance on broadening their strategic partnership beyond military and security ties.  Today’s meeting demonstrates the continuing close cooperation between Iraq and the United States on economic, trade, and investment issues.  U.S. – Iraqi cooperation in these areas is aimed at further integrating Iraq into the global economy and thereby creating jobs and attracting investment in both countries.  In that regard, the United States expressed its continued support for Iraq’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), and the two governments discussed ways for Iraq to advance its WTO accession process.  Iraq is currently the United States’ 27th largest goods trading partner and 60th largest export market.  U.S. goods exports to Iraq from January to December 2013 totaled $2 billion.  Iraqi goods exports to the United States in that period totaled $13.3 billion.  Total U.S. foreign direct investment in Iraq is $1.2 billion. 

During today’s TIFA Council meeting, representatives from Iraq and the United States discussed business development and trade diversification with an emphasis on trade and investment cooperation in the following sectors that are quickly growing in Iraq: agriculture; electric power; housing projects and infrastructure; water, sewage, and sanitation; roads and bridges; engineering; metallurgical and petrochemical projects; light and heavy industry; and health, financial, and educational services.  Iraqi representatives explained that Iraq is making important progress to facilitate the importation of goods into Iraq and to ensure that U.S. companies can participate in Iraqi government procurement tenders by reducing unnecessary documentation requirements.  In a number of areas, the United States is providing technical assistance to help Iraq improve its capacity to regulate trade in a way that does not unnecessarily burden commerce.

The TIFA process is a key part of the sustained and multi-faceted high-level engagement between the two governments and focuses on tackling major trade and investment challenges.  

The bilateral government -to-government discussions during today’s TIFA Council meeting covered the following areas: 1) investment climate issues; 2) business development; 3) government procurement; 4) import policies; 5) labor issues; 6) agricultural trade; and 7) services sector issues.  The two governments also identified three general areas for additional attention during future TIFA Council meetings: government procurement, women’s economic empowerment, and intellectual property rights.

  •  March

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3 minutes ago, Wheelman said:

United States and Iraq Hold Inaugural Trade and Investment Framework Agreement Meeting and Register Progress on Bilateral Issues

 

03/05/2014

Washington, D.C. - Today, senior representatives of the governments of the United States and Iraq held the inaugural meeting in Washington of the United States-Iraq Council on Trade and Investment (TIFA Council), which was established under the United States-Iraq Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA).  The dialogue under the TIFA reaffirms both governments’ commitment to increase bilateral trade and investment. 

Both governments place strong importance on broadening their strategic partnership beyond military and security ties.  Today’s meeting demonstrates the continuing close cooperation between Iraq and the United States on economic, trade, and investment issues.  U.S. – Iraqi cooperation in these areas is aimed at further integrating Iraq into the global economy and thereby creating jobs and attracting investment in both countries.  In that regard, the United States expressed its continued support system" rel="">support for Iraq’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), and the two governments discussed ways for Iraq to advance its WTO accession process.  Iraq is currently the United States’ 27th largest goods trading partner and 60th largest export market.  U.S. goods exports to Iraq from January to December 2013 totaled $2 billion.  Iraqi goods exports to the United States in that period totaled $13.3 billion.  Total U.S. foreign direct investment in Iraq is $1.2 billion. 

During today’s TIFA Council meeting, representatives from Iraq and the United States discussed business development and trade diversification with an emphasis on trade and investment cooperation in the following sectors that are quickly growing in Iraq: agriculture; electric power; housing projects and infrastructure; water, sewage, and sanitation; roads and bridges; engineering; metallurgical and petrochemical projects; light and heavy industry; and health, financial, and educational services.  Iraqi representatives explained that Iraq is making important progress to facilitate the importation of goods into Iraq and to ensure that U.S. companies can participate in Iraqi government procurement tenders by reducing unnecessary documentation requirements.  In a number of areas, the United States is providing technical assistance to help Iraq improve its capacity to regulate trade in a way that does not unnecessarily burden commerce.

The TIFA process is a key part of the sustained and multi-faceted high-level engagement between the two governments and focuses on tackling major trade and investment challenges.  

The bilateral government -to-government discussions during today’s TIFA Council meeting covered the following areas: 1) investment climate issues; 2) business development; 3) government procurement; 4) import policies; 5) labor issues; 6) agricultural trade; and 7) services sector issues.  The two governments also identified three general areas for additional attention during future TIFA Council meetings: government procurement, women’s economic empowerment, and intellectual property rights.

  •  March

https://m.cldp.doc.gov/

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2 hours ago, WheresmyRV? said:

Isn't Vietnam a full fledged member and don't they still have a devalued currency?

 

correct ...  vietnam has struggled with high inflation forever it seems here is a chart starting in 1960 the closest the vietnam currency got to the usd was about 100 to 1 usd  .. cheers 

 

Year USD Exchange rate
1960 97
1970 410
1980 2,050
1990 6,500
2000 14,428
2010 19,495
2020 23,173
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2 hours ago, WheresmyRV? said:

Isn't Vietnam a full fledged member and don't they still have a devalued currency?

 

Vietnam is in a different situation.  Their resource is cheap labor and they need a low valued currency.  I really don't see the Dong increasing in value any time soon if at all.  Someone please correct me if I am wrong.    

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2 hours ago, 3n1 said:

 

correct ...  vietnam has struggled with high inflation forever it seems here is a chart starting in 1960 the closest the vietnam currency got to the usd was about 100 to 1 usd  .. cheers 

 

Year USD Exchange rate
1960 97
1970 410
1980 2,050
1990 6,500
2000 14,428
2010 19,495
2020 23,173

in year 1960 the rate was 97 to 1 US.   so 1 dong=0.097 US. in 2020 the rate is 23,173 to 1. so 1 dong=0.0000432. so this is like 2,243 times from 0.0000432 to 0.097. not bad for a country like vietnam. hopefully rv comes sooner for a vietnam dong before or after the iqd. come rv.

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1 hour ago, screwball said:

Don’t they have to have a internationally tradeable currency before they can join? Isn’t a condition of entry? Asking the question because this has been discussed many times!

From the WTO's mouth (website

 

ACCESSION: EXPLANATION

How to become a member of the WTO

Article XII of the WTO Agreement states that accession to the WTO will be “on terms to be agreed” between the acceding government and the WTO. Accession to the WTO is essentially a process of negotiation — quite different from the process of accession to other international entities, like the IMF, which is largely an automatic process.


 

 
Because each accession Working Party takes decisions by consensus, all interested WTO Members must be in agreement that their individual concerns have been met and that outstanding issues have been resolved in the course of their bilateral and multilateral negotiations.

All documentation examined by the accession Working Party during the process of negotiation remains restricted until completion of the process.

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Who can apply 

Any state or customs territory having full autonomy in the conduct of its trade policies is eligible to accede to the WTO on terms agreed between it and WTO Members”. (Article XII of the WTO Agreement).

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The request for accession 

The accession process commences with the submission of a formal written request for accession by the applicant government. This request is considered by the General Council which establishes a Working Party to examine the accession request and, ultimately, to submit the findings of the Working Party to the General Council for approval. The Working Party is open to all Members of the WTO.

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> Guide to downloading files.


N.B. You should download these documents rather than calling them into view through the browser since the formatting may change (eg. paragraph numbering) when viewed through the browser.

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Submission of a memorandum on the foreign trade regime

The applicant government presents a memorandum covering all aspects of its trade and legal regime to the Working Party. This memorandum forms the basis for detailed fact finding by the Working Party. (Download in MS Word document WT/ACC/1 (27 pages, 72 KB) outlines the major headings to be examined).

Subsequent Working Party meetings will see the examination of questions posed by WTO Members based on the information provided in the memorandum and the replies provided by the applicant government.

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Conditions of entry 

After examining all aspects of the existing trade and legal regimes of the acceding government the Working Party goes into the substantive part of the multilateral negotiations involved in accessions. This determines the terms and conditions of entry for the applicant government. Terms and conditions include commitments to observe WTO rules and disciplines upon accession and transitional periods required to make any legislative or structural changes where necessary to implement these commitments.

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Bilateral negotiations 

At the same time, the applicant government engages in bilateral negotiations with interested Working Party members on concessions and commitments on market access for goods and services. The results of these bilateral negotiations are consolidated into a document which is part of the final “accession package”.

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The final “accession package”  

The “accession package” consists of three documents which represent the results of both the multilateral and bilateral phases outlined above. These are:

  • a Report of the Working Party containing a summary of proceedings and conditions of entry and a Protocol of Accession.
  • Schedules of market access commitments in goods and services agreed between the acceding government and WTO Members.
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Approval of the “accession package” 

Once both the Working Party's Draft Report and Protocol of Accession and the market access commitments in goods and services are completed to the satisfaction of members of the Working Party, the “accession package” is adopted at a final formal meeting of the Working Party.

The documents are then presented to the General Council or the Ministerial Conference for adoption. Once approved by the General Council or the Ministerial Conference, the accessions package is redistributed as a non-restricted document.

Two final documents will be issued:

  • The Decision of the General Council
  • The Protocol of Accession of the new entrant a Protocol of Accession annexed to the Report which states that the country accedes to the WTO Agreement, defines the Schedules and outlines final provisions for timing of acceptance of the Protocol and full membership of the WTO.
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Becoming a full member 

Once approved by the General Council of Ministerial Conference, the applicant is then free to sign the Protocol of Accession stating that it accepts the approved “accessions package” subject to ratification in its national parliament. Normally three months is given from signature of the Protocol of Accession for this to take place.

Thirty days after the applicant government notifies the WTO Secretariat that it has completed its ratification procedures, the applicant government becomes a full Member of the WTO.

Edited by Theseus
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C. Foreign Exchange Policy 18. The government will maintain the peg with the U.S. dollar. The peg provides a key nominal anchor in a highly uncertain environment with policy capacity weakened by the conflict with ISIS. 19. The government will gradually remove remaining exchange restrictions and multiple currency practice (MCP) with a view to eliminating exchange rate distortions. Such a move towards acceptance of the obligations under Article VIII of the IMF’s Articles of Agreement will send a positive signal to the investment community that Iraq is committed to maintain an 1 See Country Report No. 15/235. Iraq: 2015 Article IV Consultation and Request for Purchase under the Rapid Financing Instrument. IRAQ 6 INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND exchange system that is free of restrictions and MCPs for current international transactions and thus facilitate creation of a favorable business climate. As a first step, the government will, by end-February 2016, amend the Investment Law, or issue clarifying implementing regulations, to remove the limitation on transfer of investment proceeds that gives rise to an exchange restriction, as recommended by a recent technical assistance mission of the IMF

 

https://www.imf.org/external/np/loi/2015/irq/122215.pdf

 

The WTO Agreements require that it consult the IMF when it deals with issues concerning monetary reserves, balance of payments, and foreign exchange arrangements. For example, these agreements allow countries to apply trade restrictions in the event of balance of payments difficulties. The WTO’s Balance of Payments Committee bases its assessments of restrictions in considerable part on the IMF’s determination of a member’s balance of payments situation.

 

https://www.imf.org/en/About/Factsheets/The-IMF-and-the-World-Trade-Organization#:~:text=The IMF and the WTO,for global trade and payments.

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20. The government will implement reforms on anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT). This will improve the integration of the domestic financial system into the global economy and lower transaction costs, improve governance, and reduce the size of the informal sector. As a first step, the government will, by end-February 2016, draft, with the help of IMF technical assistance, and adopt a by-law to set up a mechanism to comply with the relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions related to terrorism financing and Recommendation 6 of the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF).

 

https://www.imf.org/external/np/loi/2015/irq/122215.pdf

 

Auction ending!

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22 minutes ago, danielchu said:

20. The government will implement reforms on anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT). This will improve the integration of the domestic financial system into the global economy and lower transaction costs, improve governance, and reduce the size of the informal sector. As a first step, the government will, by end-February 2016, draft, with the help of IMF technical assistance, and adopt a by-law to set up a mechanism to comply with the relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions related to terrorism financing and Recommendation 6 of the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF).

 

https://www.imf.org/external/np/loi/2015/irq/122215.pdf

 

Auction ending!

danielchu Thanks, Keeping hope alive that Iraq can stop the Currency auctions for good.  Reinstate the IQD to its "Former Glory".  Git er done boys & girls....👍👍💯💯

 

GO RV & RI

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