JEDDAH, 11 July 2003 — After seven years of negotiations, Saudi Arabia has announced it is making the final arrangements to join the World Trade Organization by the end of this year, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
Fawaz Al-Alami, who is chairman of the negotiating delegation, said that 16 bilateral agreements will be signed with member states in the organization during the next phase, while 13 such agreements have already been signed.
This will allow the membership agreement to be submitted to the organization’s council for a vote by all 146 members. Once approved, Saudi Arabia would gain full WTO membership.
The move comes at a time when the Kingdom has implemented a range of economic reforms including reducing the customs tariff from 12 to five percent last year.
In 2002 Finance Minister Ibrahim Al-Assaf said he hoped Saudi Arabia would quickly join the WTO. “We are committed at all levels of government to join the WTO as soon as possible,” he told reporters at the time.
