The Status of Iran's Trade Partners in Trade Diplomacy

Adoption of proper trade policies by countries depends, among others, on their full awareness of the status of their trading partners. The present article tries to look into the question of how “international rankings” approach and define the status of various countries. More specifically, the article argues that most of the international methods used for ranking of countries have been developed by Western countries, which in the authors’ view, might have been influenced by certain political considerations and tendencies, hence leading to a certain bias in the consideration of relevant factors and indices and their weight in the determination of the status. In the light of this overall outlook, the article suggests that countries should approach such international data and statistics with caution and instead undertake to develop their own methods, taking into consideration an alternative combination of factors in accordance with their own national characteristics, concerns and interests. As for Iran, the authors believe that based on their study, economic factors should be given a higher weight and profile in the country’s international trade and specifically in its trade diplomacy in order to protect and promote national interests.