RIYADH, 3 May 2005 — A senior Saudi trade negotiator will head to the United States today hoping to finalize a bilateral accord which would pave the way for the oil exporting giant to join the World Trade Organization. Chief WTO accession negotiator Fawaz Al-Alamy told Reuters yesterday that he hoped to reach a deal with Washington “two weeks from now”.

Alamy declined to say what issues remained to be resolved after weeks of intensive negotiations and a summit meeting between President George W. Bush and Crown Prince Abdullah last week.

Saudi Arabia is the world’s biggest oil exporter and one of relatively few countries still not a member of the WTO. Acting US Trade Representative Peter Allgeier said last month that Washington was close to agreement with Riyadh on tariff cuts needed for WTO membership.

Alamy told yesterday’s Al-Riyadh newspaper the two sides had reached agreement on insurance and financial sector issues — where the United States had pressed for greater foreign access — as well as agriculture. The United States has also pressed the Kingdom in negotiations to take stronger action against the illegal copying of US-recorded products.

Another obstacle has been shelf-life limits on food products that Washington says are out of line with international norms.

A deal with the United States would go a long way toward easing Saudi Arabia’s entry into the WTO, but the Kingdom must still negotiate a bilateral market access deal with any of the 148 WTO members that requests one. It must also negotiate a multilateral agreement with all WTO members to bring its trade regime into line with international rules.

Alamy told Al-Riyadh that Saudi Arabia’s final WTO accession document will be prepared next month in Geneva and the Kingdom will meet all members of the organization in July for multilateral talks.