WTO Talks

W.T.O. to Start Talks to Admit Iran - New York Times:

"The World Trade Organization announced Thursday that it would start talks to admit Iran as a member, a reward for Tehran's agreement to continue to freeze its nuclear activities.

Mohammad Reza Alborzi, an Iranian envoy, said today that the W.T.O. 'has done service to itself by correcting a wrong.'

The decision came after the United States, in a small but important conciliatory gesture, dropped its long-standing opposition to Iranian membership in the organization, which governs global trade.

'It is a long overdue decision but it is a positive decision,' said Mohammad Reza Alborzi, Iran's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, in a telephone interview. 'We have a Persian proverb: 'A fish is always fresh, even if it is caught when you go fishing late in the day.' '"