Tehran, Iran, Dec. 16
By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend:
Iran is fully prepared to join the World Trade Organization (WTO), Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh, Iran's minister of industry, mine, and trade, has said.
He made the remarks Dec. 16 at a meeting with Finnish Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Lenita Toivakka on the sidelines of the WTO's 10th Ministerial Conference in Kenya, Mehr news agency reported.
"Tehran hopes that members of the WTO, including Finland, act according to their responsibility to support all countries and facilitate their accession to the WTO," he added.
Toivakka, for her part, said that Finland is committed to supporting positive activities in the multilateral trading system and as such, welcomes Iran's accession to the WTO.
Iran became a supervisory member to the World Trade Organization 10 years ago.
"We have not taken preliminary steps to join the organization, while Afghanistan and Iraq are passing final stages," Valiollah Afkhami-Rad, head of the Trade Promotion Organization of Iran, said in October.
"Negotiations with Iran's working group on joining the World Trade Organization will start soon," he added.
The WTO received Iran's membership application on July 19, 1996. The WTO 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.