In the present century, the water shortage is one of the greatest challenges, especially for arid and semi-arid countries such as Iran. Many researchers in these countries have always examined the methods that can solve the water crisis. In the conventional policies related to management of water resources, the term of “virtual water” has been introduced to reduce physical water scarcity in arid and semi-arid countries by importing water-intensive commodities. In this study, we have reviewed the countries' evidences on the virtual water trade and determined the effective factors on virtual water trade. A review of the published documents and references, confirmed that there is no evidence showing that the framework of virtual water is used to define a policy. Among the 18 countries reviewed in this study, Mexico was the only country which employed the virtual water concept for achieving the water security. In addition, the results of the second part of this study indicate that a country’s abundant of arable land is the most effective factor in describing trade patterns. To sum up, the best trade strategies and agreements are determined by assessing the opportunity costs of production such as virtual water and opportunity cost of land use, evaluating comparative advantages, and other social and economic circumstances.

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