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Iraq's relaunching accession process into the WTO


yota691
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4 hours ago, yota691 said:
The Chairperson left Geneva with a very positive assessment of Iraq's accession process. He felt that there was a renewed political engagement from the Iraqi government, as well as from the mission in Geneva. He believes that as soon as the Secretariat receives the necessary negotiating inputs, the 3rd Working Party meeting could be held before the end of 2021.

 

Thanks Yota691 for posting this positive article - I agree with NY Kevin, LaidBack & Screwball - this is good news and indicates Iraq is moving in the right direction in the eyes of the WTO..! :twothumbs:Blessings - :salute:Ron

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Month old article...

Enhancing agricultural development will facilitate Iraq’s accession to WTO

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Baghdad – A workshop on “WTO Accession and Agriculture” was organised from 4th to 7th July 2021 in Baghdad.

Agricultural development consistent with WTO standards needs enhancement in Iraq for facilitating the negotiations leading to the accession process.

The workshop provided a comprehensive overview of the agriculture sector as perceived within the WTO and the Agreement on Agriculture and its pillars.

Representatives from various government institutions from Baghdad and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq including officials from the Ministry of Trade, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Industry participated in the workshop.

The workshop was organized by the International Trade Centre (ITC) a joint agency of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and United Nations (UN), through “Strengthening the Agriculture and Agri-food Value Chain and Improving trade policy in Iraq“ (SAAVI) project.

Funded by the European Union (EU), the project is contributing to inclusive economic growth and job creation, particularly for youth, by improving Iraq’s agriculture competitiveness and supporting trade development. It is also particularly focuses on providing support to Iraq in the process of acceding to the WTO.

Mr. Adel Almasoodi, Director General, Foreign Economic Relations Department, Ministry of Trade opened the workshop and reaffirmed Iraq’s commitment to the accession to the WTO and assured the support of his team to the SAAVI project.

H.E. Martin Huth, Ambassador of the European Union to Iraq and Ms. Irena Vojáčková-Sollorano, the United Nations Resident Coordinator to Iraq were also present.

Speaking on the occasion, H.E. Martin Huth, Ambassador of the European Union to Iraq said, “The EU has a strong interest in Iraq acceding to the World Trade Organisation in order to bring Iraq into the illustrious WTO group of 164 states. WTO accession, and the economic reforms that it entails, represents a clear opportunity for Iraq to implement the goals of the White Paper. Being a full member of the WTO, will allow Iraq to improve its collaboration on trade and investment with all WTO members and ultimately support the creation of decent work for all Iraqis”

Ms. Irena Vojáčková-Sollorano, the United Nations Resident Coordinator to Iraq said,* “The drive for economic reform, including political commitments in resuming the WTO accession process with a clear roadmap, is a clear signal of a better future awaiting Iraq.”*

The workshop included sessions from experts from WTO, Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) and the International Trade Centre. In addition the trade policy technical team from the International Trade Centre, Geneva, including Mr. Jean-Sébastien, Senior Officer for Policy and Business and Ms. Devika Rajeev, Associate Programme Officer, were present in Baghdad to facilitate the workshop.

This workshop is the first in a line of capacity building sessions that will be organised through the SAAVI project to support Iraq to accede to the WTO.

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Pessimism about a foreseeable agreement in global agriculture negotiations

 
 
 35 VIEWS
 

Draft of her first negotiating text

New Morning - Follow up:

As ambassadors to the World Trade Organization began their summer vacation, Costa Rica's ambassador and head of agriculture negotiations, Cloria Peralta, circulated a draft of her first negotiating text, stressing that delegates would need to move quickly to make concessions and make a difference in people's lives.
The draft, 27 pages and covering eight topics, is designed to focus the negotiators' attention on what can be agreed upon at the next ministerial conference of the organization from November 30 to December 3, or within three months of their return in September. So far, members are divided, as always, with little rapprochement after months of work.
The text is not a public document. It was circulated as a “bounded document,” the first time a president had done so since the start of agricultural negotiations more than two decades ago, in 2000. But a “restricted” document among 164 members will not remain “bound.”
The document explicitly states that the organization's members and leaders are "concerned about the negative expectations of the outcome of the negotiations over the coming months." This phrase partly reflects the fact that many of the proposals made by the members are also "restricted by objections."
The content indicates that “one or at most two final agreements can be reached at the Ministerial Conference.” But Alan Wolff, the former deputy director-general of the WTO, is pessimistic about the prospects, although he sees agriculture as central to the WTO negotiations.
The former PIIE official wrote a “seven-page” letter in which he said, “I do not expect any major consensus to be reached in the run-up to the Ministerial Conference on the level that FAO hopes to achieve... An agreed program of work for agriculture should be reached. Honestly, it's been a long time coming."
“Sometimes agreement is possible, despite differences that suggest irreconcilability,” says Vangelis Vitalis of New Zealand, one of Peralta's ancestors.
Drawing on his experience as head of the agricultural negotiations in 2015 and the sudden breakthrough in eliminating export subsidies at that year's Nairobi ministerial conference, he tweeted, "I can't guess, the only thing to say in this difficult situation is that perseverance and belief that nothing is impossible is vital, especially in agriculture." Where the situation is critical.”
While Peralta says, "Her draft is an honest assessment of what might be possible, it is not a perfect text and it does not reflect all opinions, it is impossible."
Addressing the members, she adds, “The text is a tool for dealing with one another in constructive exchange. He is not responding to all your demands and concerns, but he is trying to take into account all the opinions that have been expressed and chart a way forward.”
In a desperate expression, she notes that the text "guides our future work and marks what we wish to achieve together, including subsequent ministerial conferences." This may mean that the text is a working program, rather than a signatureable text.
The topics covered are: domestic subsidies, market access, export competition (an expression that hides export subsidies), export restrictions, cotton, a special protection mechanism, public equity (an expression referring to the purchase of products at prices set by the government), and transparency. Among the most important of these topics:

Domestic support
This topic should be a priority, as a number of members hope to reach agreement at the Ministerial Conference. However, Peralta acknowledged that this year's deal is a long way off, as members continue to disagree on how to address trade-distorting subsidies "the subsidies affecting prices and production", adding that they are "looking for a beneficial intermediate step forward" and urging members to meet halfway. .
Some countries, such as the United States, say that a solution to domestic agricultural subsidies alone is not sufficient. Washington, which is the largest supporter of its agricultural sector, according to the organization's quotas, wants to balance support with a deal "reducing import duties and expanding tariff quotas." This made talks more difficult and further complicated the negotiation of domestic support.
In order to gain access to markets, the text of the chairperson of the negotiations proposes that the members commit to reducing customs barriers and increasing market access for agricultural commodities significantly “within ten years,” provided that negotiations in this regard begin “no later than 2022.” To achieve this goal, Members will negotiate new disciplines at the 13th Ministerial Conference in 2023. The
text requires that Members' contribution to these reductions be proportional to Members' level of tariff barriers, market access privileges, as well as their patterns of participation and potential influence in world agricultural markets, taking into account individual member needs. and that members show maximum restraint in using non-tariff barriers in order to preserve market access terms and not undermine future concessions.
In a new point that was not previously raised in the agricultural negotiations, the text called for converting specific fees “such as the dollar per ton” and more complex tariffs into percentages of the price “equivalent to fees by value”, with the aim of structuring the agreed tariff reductions. “Tariff obligations in the WTO are in the form of legally binding ceilings.”

Export competition
What the WTO says of this term are “policies that may contain hidden export subsidies,” particularly through government participation in export credit guarantees, food aid, and STEs. Since members agreed to abolish agricultural export subsidies in 2015, the task here has shifted to transparency in areas of government action.
From the start, this has been a major problem for importing countries, made even more serious by the COVID-19 pandemic. The text is based on two proposals: exempting the World Food Program from export restrictions, and enhancing transparency in order to reduce market volatility.
The text mainly deals with transparency and trade-distorting domestic supportCotton-4, Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, wants cuts in domestic support for cotton more severe than for agriculture as a whole.
It is one of the most important positions of the WTO, but the irony is that what was mentioned in the text is not transparent. The proposal apparently aims to improve transparency by strengthening what states are required to report to the organization. This is the central principle of the WTO that agreements cannot be implemented unless members provide information about what they are doing under the agreements, and no member can know if other members are properly implementing agreed rules without sharing the information.
But the issue of transparency also raises the concerns expressed by many developing countries about the increasing burden on them to report on their business activities. The same debate in general about transparency can be heard across the board in the WTO's work.

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