Conference on Iran's Joining World Trade Organization Held
December 11, 2000 - 0:0
TEHRAN -- A conference on accession of Iran to the World Trade Organization (WTO) was held on Saturday at Amir Kabir University in Tehran.
The keynote speakers in the gathering were head of the Iranian Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Mines (ICCIM) Alinaqi Khamoushi who supports the idea and former minister of finance and economic affairs Mohammad-Javad Iravani who is against it.
Khamoushi said 130 states are members of the WTO and 50 other states have applied for membership, adding that Iran's joining the WTO would serve to bolster the Iranian economy.
He said a five-year period is enough for planning to join the WTO and that the ICCIM believes that with accession to the WTO, the Iranian economy will gain benefits.
Khamoushi criticized the current state of affairs in the economic sector for changing the regulations and tariffs with no economic justification.
He also put forward a critical view about the government's resolve to support the industry with injecting hard cash at subsidized exchange rate from the national budget. He said the industries in Iran have been the importer from foreign countries that usually make manipulation in the production line and any government subsidies to the industries will not help strengthen the economy because the standard of production lines in Iran are substandard.
He said that joining the WTO will help the industries to update their production lines and enter into competition with foreign manufacturers.
Khamoushi said manufacturers in Iran have never felt a sense of competition because they have always enjoyed the government's subsidies in different forms.
Answering a question on whether Iran should concede its national economic agenda with joining the WTO, Khamoushi said that every member state has equal vote within the WTO while in the United Nations certain states enjoy the veto rights so that the member states in the UN have not equal right and also in the World Bank (WB) the extent of right with the member state is commensurate with their capital.
Meanwhile, Iravani said joining the WTO may lead to a boom in the economy or a collapse of the economy. He said the industries in Iran are not prepared to join the WTO and accession to the WTO may bring about unemployment.
Iravani said that Iran's revenues come from sale of crude oil and that exporting crude materials is harmful to the Iranian economy. He said Iran is required to set up industries related to processing the crude oil adding that the agriculture sector will benefit if Iran joins the WTO.
Iravani said the agriculture sector has developed the processing of agriculture products with competitive quality and the WTO will give an opportunity to the agriculture sector to enter into competition with foreign agriculture producers.
He called for a cut in the government's subsidies to the industries and advised that the government should spend the amount of subsidies to support the unemployed population.
(IRNA)
The keynote speakers in the gathering were head of the Iranian Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Mines (ICCIM) Alinaqi Khamoushi who supports the idea and former minister of finance and economic affairs Mohammad-Javad Iravani who is against it.
Khamoushi said 130 states are members of the WTO and 50 other states have applied for membership, adding that Iran's joining the WTO would serve to bolster the Iranian economy.
He said a five-year period is enough for planning to join the WTO and that the ICCIM believes that with accession to the WTO, the Iranian economy will gain benefits.
Khamoushi criticized the current state of affairs in the economic sector for changing the regulations and tariffs with no economic justification.
He also put forward a critical view about the government's resolve to support the industry with injecting hard cash at subsidized exchange rate from the national budget. He said the industries in Iran have been the importer from foreign countries that usually make manipulation in the production line and any government subsidies to the industries will not help strengthen the economy because the standard of production lines in Iran are substandard.
He said that joining the WTO will help the industries to update their production lines and enter into competition with foreign manufacturers.
Khamoushi said manufacturers in Iran have never felt a sense of competition because they have always enjoyed the government's subsidies in different forms.
Answering a question on whether Iran should concede its national economic agenda with joining the WTO, Khamoushi said that every member state has equal vote within the WTO while in the United Nations certain states enjoy the veto rights so that the member states in the UN have not equal right and also in the World Bank (WB) the extent of right with the member state is commensurate with their capital.
Meanwhile, Iravani said joining the WTO may lead to a boom in the economy or a collapse of the economy. He said the industries in Iran are not prepared to join the WTO and accession to the WTO may bring about unemployment.
Iravani said that Iran's revenues come from sale of crude oil and that exporting crude materials is harmful to the Iranian economy. He said Iran is required to set up industries related to processing the crude oil adding that the agriculture sector will benefit if Iran joins the WTO.
Iravani said the agriculture sector has developed the processing of agriculture products with competitive quality and the WTO will give an opportunity to the agriculture sector to enter into competition with foreign agriculture producers.
He called for a cut in the government's subsidies to the industries and advised that the government should spend the amount of subsidies to support the unemployed population.
(IRNA)