GENEVA, July 27 (AFP) - The World Trade Organisation's 147 member states agreed on Tuesday to open membership talks with Libya, as the North African state took advantage of the thaw in its diplomatic relations with western countries.
The decision was made by the WTO's top decision-making body, the General Council in Geneva, marking the start of the lengthy process of bringing the North African country into the global free trade system.
The Council also rejected Iran's application again due to enduring eight year-old opposition from the United States, WTO spokesman Keith Rockwell said.
WTO decisions require consensus among all 147 members to be carried.
"My country will enact laws and regulations consistent with those of the relevant WTO conventions and with the orientation of the Organisation in terms of trade liberalisation and economic openess," Libya's ambassador Najat Mehdi al-Hajjaji said.
Libya lodged its application in 2001, but waited three years before it sought formal approval from the General Council because it feared some countries, notably the United States, might oppose its bid, a source close to the talks said.
"Libya was waiting for the appropriate climate," the source added.
Diplomats pointed to the decline in political tensions between Tripoli and Washington, which accepted last December to lift sanctions in exchange for the dismantlement of Libya's biological, chemical and nuclear weapons programmes.
Israel did not oppose the opening to Libya either on Tuesday.
Tel-Aviv appeared to be hoping that Tripoli would lift its embargo on Israel, diplomats said.
Negotiations on a country's accession to the WTO generally take many years to complete and Libya is unlikely to be an exception, a diplomat said.
"The negotiations could be very long, Libya still has a planned and very closed economy," the source said.
As a next step, the WTO will set up a working party to examine the country's accession.
Libya must submit a document detailing its trade policy and structures, which will form the basis of the negotiations on adjustments to its economic environment.
The north African country will also have to carry out bilateral talks with individual trading partners who ask for them.
While Iraq symbolically gained observer status at the WTO in February, an initial step towards a membership bid, neighbouring Iran's failure on Tuesday marked the second time this year that it has been left out in the cold.
The question of Iran's accession has been repeatedly rejected by Washington, which broke off diplomatic ties with Tehran after the 1979 seizure of US embassy staff as hostages.