WASHINGTON – Yesterday, the United States and the Republic of Iraq convened the third meeting of the United States-Iraq Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) Council. The Council meeting was co-chaired by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative’s Chief Agricultural Negotiator Doug McKalip and the Republic of Iraq’s Deputy Minister of Trade, Ghassan Farhan Hamid.
During the meeting, the United States and the Republic of Iraq discussed a range of bilateral trade and investment issues, including agriculture, customs, standards, technical barriers to trade, intellectual property, accessibility of trade-related measures, and policies impacting the investment climate, such as the need for more inclusive stakeholder consultations. American-Iraqi cooperation in these areas aims to improve the business environment in Iraq through enhancing and diversifying bilateral trade, thereby creating jobs and attracting investment to both countries.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and the Iraqi Ministry of Trade both expressed intent to follow up with technical-level discussions to make progress on priority issues.
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