Azernews.Az

By Mohammad Reza Sabzalipour,

Head of Iran World Trade Center

After 12 years of negotiations between the member states, the World Trade Organization finally signed a deal intended to boost global trade on December 6.

Ministers from 159 countries inked the deal at a meeting in Bali, Indonesia.

By simplifying customs procedures, the pact would reportedly boost global trade by $1 trillion, and create job opportunities for 21 million people.


The deal was good news for about three quarters of the countries of the world. But unfortunately Iran will not benefit from the pact. Not even $1 out of the mentioned one trillion would become Tehran's share.

The deal facilitates trade relations between the member states, but signing the pact itself is considered a victory and success for the World Trade Organization. It exempts the poorest members from paying customs duties which helps them export their goods easier.

But unless Tehran joins the World Trade Organization, it will not benefit from the world trade profits. The world powers and the 159 member states of WTO will not consider Iran as a reliable partner as well. However, I believe that it's nearly impossible for Tehran to join the organization in the next 10 years.

The most important obstacle is the United States' negative vote which will surely affect the other members' decisions. A realistic approach will show us that the United States' strong economy gives the country a special position, which brings other WTO member states under Washington's influence.

The United States objection will affect other members' decisions. But besides Washington, other countries, even the weak ones, can pose a threat to Iran's joining request as well. For example, even a powerful country like Russia couldn't joint WTO just because of Georgia's objection. However, after the mediation of world powers like the United States, Tbilisi agreed to the request and Russia joined the WTO after 18 years of waiting.

Besides the United States and its European allies, there is always Israel. Given the two countries' historic disagreements and Tehran's repeated calls for "wiping Israel off the world map", Tel Aviv should also be considered as a huge obstacle for Iran. So Tehran should either back off from its basic principles and slogans, or give up joining the WTO, since the United States and its allies will certainly use this issue to put more political pressure on Iran.

Some believe that political motivations will lead Washington to back Iran's joining to the organization, while some others say Iran's presence in the waiting list is in favor of Washington's interests. Some of the most important enterprises of the United States as well as the country's big industries say only European countries, and not the U.S. itself, will benefit from Washington's objection. However, in the past seven years the U.S. has prevented Iran from joining the WTO.

The sanctions imposed on Tehran are also another cause for the delay and Tehran needs to accept harder conditions to join the organization.

The WTO always advises the countries that want to join the organization to first gain political support of the member states. So as long as we have political disputes with other countries, especially the world powers, we will lack their political support. Therefore, if we think that they'll put aside the political disputes and just focus on the economic aspects during the negotiations, we certainly have a wrong attitude.

The new deal has facilitated transactions between WTO member states, so the volume and value of inter-organization trades will rise significantly in future. However, the member states just trade with each other and will gradually avoid trade transactions with non-members such as Iran.

If the deal is carried out correctly and the set goals are materialized, it would be a great success for the WTO, and the organization's power and influence would be increased. But if the deal fails, it would be a hard blow to WTO and would cloud the organization's future.