WTO starts entry talks with Iraq

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) agreed on Monday to begin accession talks with Iraq and Afghanistan, but the United States again blocked ...

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) agreed on Monday to begin accession talks with Iraq and Afghanistan, but the United States again blocked any such negotiations with Iran, diplomats said.

The go-ahead for Iraq and Afghanistan came with no dissenting voice amongst the trade body’s 148 member states, but Washington said it was still studying Iran’s request — the same answer it has given for the past three years.

‘‘They have approved Iraq and Afghanistan, but, as it has always been, there was no consensus on Iran,’’ said one diplomat about the deliberations of WTO’s executive General Council, where all decisions must be unanimous. But while the door to WTO is open for Kabul and Baghdad, the entry can be a lengthy process, with Russia and Saudi Arabia still in talks after a decade.

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The decision puts the US-installed administration in Baghdad on a level with more than two dozen other nations who want to join or are in the process of doing so.

But actual negotiations with Iraq, which has the world’s second largest oil reserves after Saudi Arabia, are unlikely to start before elections there, which are due to be held in late January. — Reuters