Iraq presents broad opportunities to attract foreign investment

04/9/2018 12:00 am

In the case of accession to the World Trade Organization as an active member
Baghdad / Emad Al-Amara
One of the most important opportunities that can be provided by Iraq's accession to the World Trade Organization as an active member is to attract foreign investment. The infrastructure of the Iraqi economy has been affected by the series of wars and international sanctions that have lasted more than a decade and the subsequent years have left Iraq needing investment in all fields. A time when local investment is unable to enter the market to meet basic needs.


Diversify the economy
Between the academic economist d. Ali Mahdi Abbas "in the event that Iraq meets the conditions of accession to the World Trade Organization and its entry as an active member, it will be able to provide an environment attractive to foreign investment and double the volume of foreign trade, and increased investments will help to diversify the economy so that Iraq can not rely on oil as the only source of the budget because oil According to the WTO is not a commodity or a distinct product, as well as Iraq's accession to the World Trade Organization encourages the opening of new markets and opportunities for national products.
After 2003, Iraq submitted an application to join the organization as an observer in 2004. The request was unanimously accepted during the meeting of the General Council of the Organization in the same year. After obtaining observer status in the Organization, the National Committee for the accession of Iraq to the Organization was formed, represented by the Ministry of Commerce and a number of concerned institutions, Private sector. In September 2005, the Memorandum of Foreign Trade Regime of Iraq was submitted to the Organization, which included all the details and information concerning the economic and commercial activity of the country.
"Iraq had decades of potential in several industries that have a good reputation in foreign markets such as spinning, weaving, leather, cement, petrochemical, food and other industries, as well as agricultural products such as dates and livestock, where foreign markets and exports have been growing continuously," Abbas said. "The economic policies that have been implemented have led to the fluctuation of production and its deterioration on an ongoing basis, which led to the loss of export capacity."
One of the most important conditions for joining the World Trade Organization is first to make concessions to tariffs. The WTO requires that the country wishing to join it provide a schedule of concessions containing tariff tariffs that can only be raised in principle in special cases. With a list of controls to be followed in the services sector and includes a list of barriers and conditions in the sectors and professional service activities and a timetable for removal. The third point is the commitment to WTO agreements.


Global competition
Abbas added that it is possible to restore Iraq's commercial status after joining the Organization and the Iraqi industries to obtain opportunities for development and modernization at a level that makes it competitive internationally. "The accession provides openness to services and provide new opportunities for suppliers of services in the fields of banking, The Organization's dispute settlement bodies are the most modern and most effective in the international relations because of the adoption of the principle of mandatory trial and execution of sentences. "
It is noteworthy that the oil did not have a special agreement in the World Trade Organization because all agreements on trade in goods focused on reducing high tariffs and the removal of quantitative restrictions in the importing countries, while oil trade is subject in these countries to customs duties only a small percentage, and in very few Which is almost exclusively Japan and the United States.


National product support
Abbas said that "the challenges facing Iraq's accession to the Organization is to modernize the regulations and legislation of new laws and this pursuit must be accompanied by economic reform on a large scale, such as the enforcement of effective laws related to support the national product, because its presence shows the government's position on the subject of support to the private sector and identify sectors Which the government will continue to support after joining the organization. "


Businesses
He stressed the importance of activating the role of regulatory institutions related to quality and health regulatory institutions and financial institutions such as tax, customs, legal institutions and social security institutions with the need to provide detailed statistics, for example on Iraq's share in international trade or the number of commercial enterprises and the size of commercial activity compared to the size of private enterprises to determine the size Concentration of monopoly.


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