The government of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is the fifth post-revolution government to deal with Iran’s membership at World Trade Organization and it was under his government that Iran was accepted to World Trade Organization’s meetings as observer on 26 May 2005. This has been construed as a prelude to our country’s accession to the world body.

This will be a lengthy, multiphasic and complex process which will ultimately prepare Iran for active interaction with global economy. However, Iran’s accession to the World Trade Organization has been a major issue for Iran’s foreign trade over more than a whole decade. Since 1996, Iran officially submitted its membership application to the then secretary general of the organization. Since then 21 countries have joined the organization, though all of them had handed in their applications before 1995. The World Trade Organization now has 150 countries and 28 more countries including Iran are waiting their chance to join the body. Therefore, the rules and regulations of this organization covers more than 98% of global trade among member states and only 15 out of 192 countries have yet to take steps to join the WTO. They account for a meager share of global trade and their membership or lack of membership will not affect world trade.

However, after lapse of 15 years, opponents and proponents of Iran’s WTO membership inside the country have not reached a consensus. The most important concern of those favoring Iran’s WTO membership is that almost all countries (150 members and 28 countries in the process of joining) are moving along while Iran has been kept away from the mainstream of global trade and is losing developmental opportunities. On the opposite, opponents that mainly move along political lines, claim that Iran’s WTO membership will lead to the country’s assimilation into global economy where religious and cultural values of the country will lose their importance. In the meantime, the 20-year perspective plan of Iran’s development contains a strategic approach according to which Iran will be a developed country in the region, ranking the first in economic, scientific and technological terms. This has put an end to theoretical disputes and denotes that Iran is planning to embark on constructive and effective interaction with global economy to stand atop regional countries.

This is the first time in the 27-year history of the Islamic Revolution that a strategic document is drawn up to elucidate future path of Iran’s economy. This strategy has stipulated that goals of Iran’s economic development, and any other developing country, cannot be realized within its borders and, at an age of globalization, they are not merely a national issue and cannot be achieved by reliance on domestic sources.

Therefore, the most strategic approach point which should be taken into consideration with regard to Iran or any other country’s accession to the WTO is how to cooperate with international economic system. In reality, active presence in international global trade system is a two-way path, which calls for both preparedness for transferring our capabilities to that system and preparedness for taking advantage of international facilities.

Integration into global economic system is going through a gradual and phasic process. Active countries including developed and developing ones are not playing similar roles in this system. The main determinants of participation of countries in global economic system are firstly, the level of their economic and indusial development and, secondly, the role played by international economy in the domestic economy of countries. The more competitive domestic industries of a country are, the more they will be prepared to avail of international economic facilities in terms of technology, capital and specialty and the more they can take advantage of those facilities for more presence in global markets. The process of accession to the world body is a lengthy and multiphasic process and has taken up to 15 years for some countries. It is considered a true case of gradual interaction with global economy.

Accession to the WTO should be necessarily based on a strategic approach. This organization as well as its agreements and rules are tools and facilities for active presence in global economy and taking advantage of international facilities in order to realize export development strategy which should be taken into account along with other necessities of development. To realize export development strategy, which is among the most important development strategies for effective interaction with global economy, we must first establish developing relationship with international trade and gradually attune our economic and trade models to necessities and requirements of that system. Afterwards, we must acquire needed capabilities required by those models within the framework of the WTO’s rules and agreements before committing ourselves to assuring persistence of such models.

Presence in global trade system, accepting related commitments in the WTO and adapting them to developmental requisites of our country, should be clarified through lengthy and complicated negotiations.

Prolonged negotiations are mainly due to the necessity of acquiring capabilities needed for gradual adaptation of national developmental requisites to international commitments. These negotiations are a very good opportunity for solving this strategic problem; that is, how we can protect our national interests, political independence and cultural identity of our country while taking advantage of global economic facilities in line with realization of the country’s development plans, especially export development strategy within frame of the 20-Year Perspective Plan.

Iran’s presence in international trade is mainly limited to selling crude oil and various types of goods and services. Non-oil exports are mostly goods which have not led to major development of various economic sectors of the country due to low added value they create. In fact, global trade has not played an effective role in the process of economic and industrial development of our country. Changing this course, and especially, realizing goals of the 20-Year Perspective Plan, requires a new definition of relationship with global economy. For a country like Iran with many concerns about relations with the international system, going through the process of WTO accession and gradual change of economic as well as trade models and behaviors to fit developmental requisites of the country, will be the best opportunity for establishing a new interactive relationship, active participation in global economy, and establishing lasting relationship between trade and development within the framework of export development strategy. On the other hand, turning into the top economic, scientific, and technological power in the region, will necessitate constructive and active interaction with regional countries.

The main requisite for such an active interaction is establishment of institutionalized economic and trade relations with regional countries and the need to follow suit with accepted trade models, rules and practices. Today, most regional countries are either WTO members or are in the process of accession. Those countries are committed in their bilateral and regional relations to follow suit with economic and trade models and rules of the WTO and are not allowed to engage in economic and trade interactions with non-member countries, which would be incompatible with their commitments inside the World Trade Organization. This strategic necessity requires Iran to adapt its trade models to the rules and agreements of the WTO even within frame of bilateral and regional economic and trade relations.

Therefore, WTO regulations have turned into the constitution of global trade and all countries have to observe its principles and rules for development of their economic and trade relations even at bilateral and regional levels.

Global and even regional economic realities surrounding the Islamic Republic of Iran show that without conformity to rules and agreements of the World Trade Organization, which is prerequisite for establishing institutionalized economic and trade relations with regional countries, we would not be able to achieve the goals of the 20-Year Perspective Plan.

In view of the fact that all countries in international system are seeking power and its elements to boost their clout and elevate living standards of their people, we must note that membership in World Trade Organization should be looked upon as a tool for increasing the country’s economic clout as well as elevating living standard of people.

The contemporary history has provided two valuable experiences for Iran; that is, the former Soviet Union and China. They were two ideological systems that challenged western hegemony.

The former Soviet Union had emerged as a rival for the United States by relying on its political, military and ideological might. However since it failed to interact with international economic system, it could not continue to be a superpower and also failed to uplift standard of living of its people. However, taking advantage of Soviet Union’s experiences, China, which also enjoyed elements of power, found out that without interaction with global economy, it cannot survived and if China has turned out to be a major challenge to the west and the United States, it is solely due to economic interaction of that country with global economy, which has turned it into the third biggest exporter country in 2004, ranking the second in terms of investment attraction.