Upon the request of the Iraqi Ministry of Trade, UN-ESCWA organized a training workshop on "Trade in Services" on the occasion of launching the World Trade Organization (WTO) accession negotiations. The workshop took place in Cairo from 30 March to 6 April 2007.

 

The training included a number of lectures delivered by World Bank experts from Geneva, Paris, Washington, and Armenia, through video conference at the Regional Information Technology and Software Engineering Center (RITSEC) of the World Bank. Instant interpretation to Arabic was made available to participants so they could carry on discussions with the lecturers in the different capitals. The training also included discussions on how to deal with the Services Agreement within the framework of accession negotiations and how to identify specific commitments and the experiences of both developing and Arab countries in negotiating trade in services. This is in addition to reviewing the Arab Services Agreement and discussing the future needs of the Iraqi government in the fields of building self capacities and training on world trade topics, particularly WTO accession.

 

Participants in the training workshop included a number of senior officials from the Iraqi ministries of trade, agriculture, culture, finance, tourism and antiquities, sciences and technology, industry and minerals, labor and social affairs, communications, construction and housing, justice, and environment. This is in addition to participants from the Central Bank of Iraq, Al-Mustansria University, National Security Council, Council of Ministers, Iraqi Federation of Industries, Federation of Iraqi Chambers of Commerce, and Central Organization for Standardization and Quality Control.

 

UN-ESCWA was represented by Mr. Mohsen Helal, Regional Advisor for WTO Issues, who presented three papers on the "Interest of Arab Countries in Trade in Services", "Review of the Components of the Trade Policy Memorandum Related to Trade in Services" and "Current Situation of Negotiations on the Liberalization of Trade in Services".

 

This was the second training workshop on Iraq's accession to WTO organized by UN-ESCWA upon the request of the Iraqi government. The first workshop on "Trade in Agricultural Products" was held in Beirut in December 2005.