Morocco Reactivates in Geneva Iraq's Accession to WTO

Moroccan ambassador Omar Hilale, Chairperson of the Working Party on Iraq’s Accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), held several meetings in Geneva this week with various stakeholders at the WTO in order to reactivate Iraq’s integration into this Organization.

These meetings took place following the telephone conversation held last month between Hilale and Alaa Ahmed Hassan Al-Jibouri, Iraq’s new trade minister, during which the two sides agreed to revitalize negotiations to speed up the process of Iraq’s accession to the WTO.

Hilale also has talks with the Director-General of the WTO, Roberto Azevedo, as well as a working session with the Deputy Director General in charge of accessions, Alan Wolff and Maika Oshikawa, Director of the Accessions Division.

Wolff pledged in this regard to work to raise awareness among WTO countries in order to facilitate the process of Iraq’s accession.

Hilale also held bilateral meetings with the Ambassadors and Permanent Representatives in Geneva of the main countries involved in this process, in particular the European Union, Switzerland, Russia, China and Saudi Arabia as coordinator of the Arab Group.

The various interlocutors of Mr Hilale unanimously thanked and praised Morocco’s ongoing efforts to re-launch the process of Iraq’s accession to the WTO, in the difficult context of Covid-19.

The Moroccan diplomat had a virtual working session in Baghdad with Adel Al Masoudi, Director General of External Economic Relations at the Ministry of Commerce and head of the delegation in charge of negotiations.

This meeting was an opportunity for the Iraqi side to reaffirm their commitment to increase efforts to prepare all the documents required for accession.

To this end, the Iraqi side has requested technical assistance for the various ministerial departments concerned in order to set up an efficient negotiating team that will allow Iraq to better negotiate its interests during this process, which will be long and laborious.

This virtual working session was complemented by coordination meetings that were held with the Iraqi mission and with Abbas Kadhim Obaid, the Iraqi Ambassador to Geneva.

In order to ensure the necessary financial contributions for technical assistance, training and capacity building requested by the Iraqi authorities, Mr. Hilale had a virtual working session with representatives of the World Bank in Baghdad and Beirut.

Meanwhile, during a meeting with the Director of Technical Assistance of the International Trade Center, Hilale underlined the need to step up technical support for the Iraqi delegation.

On the eve of talks held by Mr. Hilale in Geneva, the World Bank published a Report on the economic situation of Iraq.

This Report confirms the importance of Iraq’s accession to the WTO, which will help complete several reforms through binding international commitments and allow Iraq benefit from a multilateral and transparent trade system.