JEDDAH, 13 October — Representatives of over 50 Muslim countries will meet in Jeddah tomorrow to discuss the effect joining the World Trade Organization could have on their economies.
Delegates from the WTO, as well as regional and international bodies, will be taking part. The officials from member states of the Organization of the Islamic Conference are meeting ahead of a WTO conference in Qatar next month.
Sources say they will seek to affirm their countries’ desire to become active partners in the new world economic order, resulting from the liberalization of international trade and the dismantling of trade barriers between nations.
The two-day meeting is being hosted by the Islamic Development Bank which has in the past hosted similar consultative gatherings for OIC countries as part of a series of seminars suggested by the OIC Standing Committee on Economic and Commercial Cooperation.
IDB officials said the bank wants the delegates to focus on two major issues: electronic trade and intellectual property rights.
In previous meetings related to WTO’s agreements, the preferential treatment developing countries could receive, anti-dumping measures and the dispute settlement mechanism adopted by the WTO were reviewed.
Sources say that since many of the OIC members are listed by the United Nations as least developed, they are expected to press at the Doha conference for more positive measures in their favor to enable them enhance their trading opportunities and integrate into the multilateral trading system.
Qatari officials insist the Doha conference will go ahead as scheduled, saying they were unaware of any plans for the cancellation of the meeting as a result of the unfolding events following the Sept. 11 terror attacks in the United States.
At the WTO ministerial conference in Seattle two years ago, anti-globalization demonstrators rampaged through the city streets, seriously disrupting the meeting.
IDB President Dr. Ahmad Muhammad Ali will deliver the opening speech at the Jeddah meeting outlining the challenges posed to Muslim countries as well as the measures required of them to best benefit from the opportunities offered by free trade.
Saudi Arabia is one of the world’s four largest economies still outside WTO and the only state in the Gulf Cooperation Council yet to join.
Over the past few years it has engaged in continuous talks with the WTO to pave the way for its accession.
The world body has been demanding that the Kingdom undertake substantial reforms before it can join.
Experts say a lack of clarity in the legal system in particular was making WTO accession difficult for the Kingdom. They argue that most of country’s laws are ambiguous and that there is no clear system to rule on legal disputes.
The Kingdom has pledged to introduce the necessary reforms after it gains membership, for which no date has yet been suggested.
Commerce Minister Osama Faqeeh has supplied the WTO with details of existing and new legislation planned for intellectual property protection, technical trade barriers, custom evaluation and health regulations related to food. These are to be included in a "protocol of accession" which will eventually incorporate the overall terms of entry and will have to be approved by the entire membership.
