JEDDAH, 9 March 2008 — The Saudi business sector should make efforts through their chambers of commerce and industry to draw benefits from the Kingdom’s World Trade Organization membership.
This was the message given by Valentine Rugwabiza, assistant director general at Geneva-based WTO, and Patricia Francis, executive director of Geneva-based International Trade Center (ITC), at a meeting held at Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry yesterday.
“The Kingdom is one of the newest members of the WTO. No doubt, your accession means true universality of the organization,” Rugwabiza said, adding that the importance of the Kingdom’s accession is highlighted by the fact that it is the world’s major exporter and importer. The WTO has 152 member-countries.
“After 12 long years of negotiations, the Kingdom has become a WTO member, but not much head way has been made by the business sector in overcoming the challenges of accession processes. This is partly because the business sector has not realized the benefits it could accrue from the country’s accession to the world trade body,” she said.
Businesses, especially small and medium enterprises, should closely interact with the WTO through their chambers of commerce to know their advantages.
The Kingdom with its booming economy needs more market access, more so as six new economic cities are being planned, and it is important that there should be an increasing dialogue on the outcome of the Doha Round of Economic Development held in 2001.
Rugwabiza said the WTO has been campaigning for credibility and transparency in international trade matters.
Francis said the ITC had a vast resource of trade information that member countries could benefit from, especially in terms of quality of products and services, and pricing, as well as understanding business risks and marketplaces. The information, which is available in French, English and Spanish, will also be made available in Arabic, she said.
“In fact, ITC is in the business of making things happen, a facilitator,” she said.
Francis said ITC’s new partnership with the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) aimed to boost intra-regional trade. It is a move designed to help small firms in developing countries improve their exports to other developing markets. This follows a memorandum of understanding Francis signed with Dr. Waleed Al-Wohaib, chief executive officer of ITFC in Geneva.
The partnership is aimed to help ITFC, a new body created a year ago by the Islamic Development Bank Group, to enhance trade among the 57 member states of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). It also aims to increase trade among OIC countries, currently around 15 percent, to 20 percent by 2015.
‘We consider this partnership as extremely important,” Francis said.
“Both of our organizations see trade development as a priority and central to our work. We have similar objectives, but come from different angles. ITC provides technical cooperation assistance that helps build capacity to export, while ITFC provides trade finance. It’s a symbiotic relationship,” she added. An action plan, to be monitored annually, is being drawn up and this will form the basis of cooperation between the two organizations.