YANBU, 19 April — Minister of Commerce Osama Jaafar Faqeeh said yesterday Saudi Arabia, the only Gulf Arab state still outside the World Trade Organization, was making progress in its bid to join the world body and blamed the delay on a lack of clear WTO rules.
Speaking at a seminar here on investment prospects in the Madinah region, Faqeeh said WTO membership was crucial for the Kingdom’s economic development. “Since the beginning of this year, substantial progress has been made toward bringing the negotiations to a successful conclusion,” Faqeeh said.
“The accession of the Kingdom has moved to an advanced stage and strong momentum has been generated,” he added. “Intensive negotiations are taking place to arrive at a package of rights and obligations which is balanced and beneficial for the current and future economic needs of Saudi Arabia.”
Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest producer and exporter of oil, has been trying to join the world body for years by meeting WTO criteria on the liberalization of its trade. It first applied to join the forerunner of the WTO, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), in 1993.
Oman last year became the 139th member of the WTO. Other members of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council — which also groups Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates — joined earlier.
Faqeeh said that while WTO rules were more balanced than those of the GATT, they did not provide the needed flexibility for developing nations. “The WTO, while priding itself on providing a rule-based system for the conduct of world trade, inter alia the principles of transparency, predictability and mutual advantages, it does not always follow them in practice,” Faqeeh charged.
“In fact, the WTO does not have clear rules and guidance on accession ... the accession process is hampered and prolonged by the absence of such rules and criteria,” he added.
The Kingdom sees membership of the WTO, which administers rules agreed by all member countries, as offering it a way of diversifying its oil-led economy. It has taken several steps toward liberalizing its economy, issuing a new investment law that allows foreigners for the first time to own projects and related property.
“Saudi Arabia’s accession would help ensure its integration into the multilateral trading system and maintain the momentum for economic development,” Faqeeh said. “It would allow greater transparency and more open policies,” he added.
Addressing the seminar on Tuesday, Minister of Communications Nasser Al-Salloum announced that studies had proved that building road networks in the country under BOT (build operate and transfer) system was economically feasible. He said the studies recommended road tolls at a rate of between 3 and 7 halalas per kilometer for multi-lane expressways.
Saudi Arabia already has a huge network of highways and secondary roads built at a cost of SR130 billion. Some analysts believe that the Cabinet decision on specifications of roads on Monday was a forerunner to imposing road tolls.
Al-Salloum also revealed a plan to construct a new depot for the Saudi Arabian Public Transport Company in Madinah at a cost of SR600 million. The depot will be built in an area of 30,000 square meters under BOT.
The ministry has plans to link Madinah and Yanbu as well as Jeddah and Makkah by a rail network which will make passenger and goods movement faster and cheaper, Al-Salloum said.
