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RR RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHIHL RUEHKUK
DE RUEHGB #2830/01 2470929
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
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FM AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD
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INFO RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 0259

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 002830 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/29/2018 
TAGS: ETRD ECON TWRO USTR BEXP IZ
SUBJECT: LIGHTING A FIRE UNDER IRAQ'S WTO ACCESSION PROCESS 
 
REF: BAGHDAD 2014 
 
Classified By: Economic Counselor Michael Dodson, for reasons 1.4 (b,d) 
. 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: The GoI continues to make halting progress 
toward WTO accession.  The Council of Representatives has 
approved some WTO-compatible legislation, but several 
complicated bills (including IPR, TBT, and SPS) are either 
stalled in the drafting phase or stuck with the Iraqi WTO 
National Council, which lacks technical expertise.  Two 
bigger stumbling blocks include the draft Customs and Tariffs 
bill, which has become the subject of what may prove a very 
time-consuming Cabinet debate, and Status of Services (ACC5) 
offer, which MOT officials acknowledge they do not have the 
technical capacity to compile quickly.  The Minister of Trade 
has also acknowledged to us that some senior GoI officials 
are uneasy about the impact of WTO requirements on domestic 
producers and on customs receipts.  However, he hopes to 
raise the awareness of naysayers as part of a personal effort 
to "light a fire under the process."  END SUMMARY. 
 
Some Steps Forward 
------------------ 
¶2. (SBU) Five months after its second Working Party (WP) 
meeting, the GoI continues to make halting progress on its 
WTO accession bid.  Following the April 2 meeting in Geneva, 
the WP delivered its follow-up questions to the GoI in early 
June, but they were not fully circulated within the GoI until 
August.  The WP noted that some WTO-compatible legislation 
has been enacted, and it welcomed the MOT's reports on 
Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), agricultural subsidies, 
sanitary and phytosanitary measures (SPS) and technical 
barriers to trade (TBT).  However, the WP requested much more 
detailed reporting on state-owned enterprises (SOEs) telecom 
and import licensing, customs law, and tariff regulations. 
The WP also acknowledged Iraq's legislative action plan, but 
urged significant updates to it. 
 
Complicated Draft Bills Stuck 
----------------------------- 
¶3. (SBU) In Baghdad, MOT officials say that they are making 
slow but steady progress on their legislative agenda. 
However, they acknowledge that several complicated bills 
(including those covering IPR, TBT, and SPS) are either 
stalled in the drafting phase or stuck with the interagency 
Iraqi WTO National Council (WTONC), which must approve them 
before they move through the Council of Ministers and on to 
the Council of Representatives (COR).  According to Tharwat 
Akram Salman, Director of the MOT's WTO Division, the causes 
of delay range from a lack of technical expertise to 
squabbles with Ministry of Justice reps on the WTONC over 
English translations of pending legislation.  Akram Salman 
noted that the IPR and TBT legislation is particularly 
complicated, and that the MOT's legal department has limited 
numbers of drafters capable of handling them.  He also said 
that other ministries appear to have even less capacity, 
citing, for example, the great difficulty the competent 
ministries have had in harmonizing countless Saddam-era laws 
that pertain to various aspects of IPR and SPS and compiling 
them into a single, WTO-compatible omnibus bill.  A more 
practical problem stems from the fact that traditionally the 
WTONC simply did not meet often enough; however, Akram Salman 
said, the Minister of Trade had pressed to change this, and 
meetings are becoming more regular. 
 
A Potential Row over Customs/Tariffs Legislation 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
¶4. (C) While delays on IPR, TBT, SPS and other legislation 
are largely technical, fundamental disagreements appear to be 
emerging within the Cabinet regarding customs and tariffs 
legislation.  In early August, Finance Minister Bayan Jabr 
announced publicly that he intended to "make revisions" to 
the draft customs/tariffs bill.  An MOF DG subsequently 
suggested to USAID-funded contractors that -- in addition to 
recommending some tariffs that may not be as "flat and low" 
as the WTO might require -- the FinMin may be seeking to keep 
the current, Saddam-era customs legislation largely intact. 
On August 18, Minister of Trade Abdul-Falah al-Sudani told 
FAS Counselor and Econoff that the Finance Minister and the 
Prime Minister had "become nervous" about WTO rules 
advocating low tariffs.  "They think we must give up too 
much" potential customs revenue, al-Sudani said.  Others in 
the cabinet expressed concerns that WTO-compatible tariff 
legislation could put domestic Iraqi producers at a 
disadvantage.  Al-Sudani, for his part, has argued that low 
tariffs may lower revenue in the short-term but are sure to 
boost both trade and customs receipts in the long run.  He 
was confident that, eventually, the GoI would agree on a 
WTO-compatible customs/tariff draft, but he hesitated to 
estimate a timeframe.  Separately, Akram Salman also 
expressed guarded optimism, telling Econoff that "there is no 
 
BAGHDAD 00002830  002 OF 002 
 
 
philosophical or political disagreement on the law -- only 
mathematical." 
 
A Long Road on ACC5 
------------------- 
¶5. (SBU) In addition to legislation, the GoI faces 
difficulties in providing Iraq's services offer (ACC5) in a 
timely manner.  In April, the GoI agreed to the ambitious 
goal of completing two of the service offer's five chapters 
by May 2009, the tentative date for the next WP meeting.  The 
MOT's WTO Services Committee, which was formed in May, has 
made some progress on the tourism chapter.  However, Akram 
Salam told Econoff that "we just don't have the experts who 
can handle" the other four chapters (telecom, 
construction/engineering, transportation and business 
services) expeditiously. 
 
Comment: Putting Some Fire Under the WTO Process 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
¶6. (SBU) No one ever expected Iraq's WTO accession process to 
be a rapid one.  And there is one bit of good news at this 
stage:  Aside from the customs and tariffs bill, the slow 
progress really is not a "philosophical or political," but 
rather, the result of lack of capacity or, increasingly, the 
Council of Representative's intensely crowded legislative 
docket.  The other good news is that Minister al-Sudani and 
the rest of the MOT are indeed committed to moving the WTO 
package forward.  At our Aug. 18 meeting, Al-Sudani 
reaffirmed his eagerness to show leadership, saying that he 
intended to hold a roundtable with key ministers who have a 
stake in the WTO and "put some fire under the process."  We 
will continue to monitor progress and, where appropriate, add 
fuel to al-Sudani's fire.  End Comment. 
BUTENIS