Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 20
By Fatih Karimov - Trend: The World Trade Organization has given Iran the green light to join the organization.
Valiollah Afkhami-Rad, head of the Trade Promotion Organization of Iran, said it is hoped that the process for joining the organization would be started through support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Iran's Fars news agency reported Oct. 20.
Joining the World Trade Organization is seriously pursued by the administration, he added.
Iran became a supervisory member of World Trade Organization 10 years ago. "However, we have not taken preliminary steps to join the organization, while Afghanistan and Iraq are passing final stages."
Negotiations with Iran's working group on joining World Trade Organization will start soon, he said. Prior to that a series of reforms in the national trade laws and regulations will be necessary, he noted.
WTO received Iran's membership application on July 19, 1996. The General Council established a Working Party to examine the application of Iran on May 26, 2005. The country submitted its Memorandum on the Foreign Trade Regime in November 2009.
Iran 's bid for accession into the WTO has long faced a US veto. Washington agreed to drop its opposition as part of a preliminary nuclear agreement in November 2013.
Edited by CN