ID :
10258
Tue, 06/17/2008 - 20:43
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/10258
The shortlink copeid
Sanctions not to prevent Iran from becoming WTO member.
TEHRAN, June 17 (Itar-Tass) - Sanctions will not prevent Iran from becoming a full-fledged member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), reported on Tuesday the Iranian satellite TV channel Press-TV, referring to a statement by Iranian Vice-President and executive director of the Organisation for Cultural Heritage and Tourism Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie.
According to the vice-president, the main obstacle for Iran's
admission to the WTO is "the country's non-readiness" rather than punitive measures of the world community against Tehran. "Iran has not fully used up its resources and the available potential," he emphasised.
"Small doubt, the Islamic Republic can join other WTO member countries under condition if it takes necessary measures and fulfils all formalities, necessary for an admission to this international structure," Mashaie said with confidence.
The TV channel noted that Iran is now among states, which are on the threshold of joining the WTO, numbering now 152 countries. Tehran became a candidate for admission to this influential international organisation back in 1996. However, it won the right to start negotiations on membership only in 2005 due to a nearly decade-long opposition by the US.
Press-TV believes that the process of Iran's accession to the WTO can take several years more, since the country has not submitted a Memorandum on the Iranian foreign trade regime, a must for joining the organization, to the working group on examination of the Iranian application.
Now, Iran is to implement three resolutions of the UN Security Council on sanctions for its refusal to stop uranium enrichment - activities provoking the West's apprehensions as a threat to the non-proliferation regime. However, Tehran claims these activities are its inalienable right under the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
The US also clamped down unilateral punitive measures on Iran. For
instance the American authorities put down main Iranian banks on the list of terrorism sponsors, which raised considerable difficulties for them to get credits in Europe and Japan.
Besides, a meeting of EU foreign ministers reached a common
understanding on Monday on taking stiff financial sanctions against the Islamic Republic. Speaking with Itar-Tass in Luxembourg, Cristina Gallah, press secretary of EU commissioner on foreign policy and security Javier Solana, expressed a supposition that the final decision on this question would be taken in the near future, possibly at the EU summit in Brussels on June 19-20.
According to the vice-president, the main obstacle for Iran's
admission to the WTO is "the country's non-readiness" rather than punitive measures of the world community against Tehran. "Iran has not fully used up its resources and the available potential," he emphasised.
"Small doubt, the Islamic Republic can join other WTO member countries under condition if it takes necessary measures and fulfils all formalities, necessary for an admission to this international structure," Mashaie said with confidence.
The TV channel noted that Iran is now among states, which are on the threshold of joining the WTO, numbering now 152 countries. Tehran became a candidate for admission to this influential international organisation back in 1996. However, it won the right to start negotiations on membership only in 2005 due to a nearly decade-long opposition by the US.
Press-TV believes that the process of Iran's accession to the WTO can take several years more, since the country has not submitted a Memorandum on the Iranian foreign trade regime, a must for joining the organization, to the working group on examination of the Iranian application.
Now, Iran is to implement three resolutions of the UN Security Council on sanctions for its refusal to stop uranium enrichment - activities provoking the West's apprehensions as a threat to the non-proliferation regime. However, Tehran claims these activities are its inalienable right under the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
The US also clamped down unilateral punitive measures on Iran. For
instance the American authorities put down main Iranian banks on the list of terrorism sponsors, which raised considerable difficulties for them to get credits in Europe and Japan.
Besides, a meeting of EU foreign ministers reached a common
understanding on Monday on taking stiff financial sanctions against the Islamic Republic. Speaking with Itar-Tass in Luxembourg, Cristina Gallah, press secretary of EU commissioner on foreign policy and security Javier Solana, expressed a supposition that the final decision on this question would be taken in the near future, possibly at the EU summit in Brussels on June 19-20.
