Three weeks ago, the Saudi government expressed the belief that Saudi Arabia would join the World Trade Organization before the end of the year. The announcement had little impact, largely because the bid for membership has been going on for so long that no one believes it is going to happen until it does. But ten years after Saudi Arabia originally applied to join the organization’s predecessor, GATT, the end is in sight. It is not just Saudis who say it: Two weeks ago, following two days of negotiations in Brussels with the Europeans on WTO membership, the EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy declared that the way ahead was clear for Saudi Arabia’s “early accession to the WTO.”
When officials meet with UN representatives next Tuesday to review progress, they will do so knowing that Saudi Arabia is now within sight of the entry posts. Most of the bilateral negotiations have either been completed or are near completion. Although there is still some tough negotiating with the EU and the US ahead, membership is going to happen soon.
So it is time for a campaign to explain to Saudi public what it will mean — how membership will oil the wheels of economic growth and prosperity, creating investment, jobs, better services and higher incomes and, most immediately, ending foreign tariffs on Saudi petrochemical exports. The task is all the more important because there is a lot of misinformation around.
That is because membership will be painful for some who have prospered in recent years. Farmers and certain industries will lose subsidies; small family businesses will be exposed to fierce competition that many will be unable to withstand. It is among these ranks that opposition to membership is strongest. But rather than admit the real reason, it is hidden behind a mask of apparent concern for the greater good.
The WTO, they say, is a Trojan Horse for foreign economic domination — forgetting that Saudi investors reap rich rewards in the global free market. They plead the need to preserve our culture and distinctive way of life — ignoring that other Muslim states, including all the other GCC states, have no problems with membership. The truth is that Saudi Arabia is not going to be forced to import pork or alcohol, the role of men and women will not be forced to change, Shariah law is not going to be replaced by secular courts.
That is not to say that membership will not present challenges. It will, most obviously in areas such as insurance and borrowing. But these are areas that Islamic jurists are more than able to deal with.
All this needs to be explained, starting now. Otherwise suspicion and hostility will remain.
