JEDDAH, 8 March 2004 — Saudi Arabia has put some 113 reservations — 73 on imports and 40 on services — on the table during membership talks with the World Trade Organization (WTO), informed sources said. They said the Kingdom presented the reservations on the basis of Article 20 of the WTO Charter in order to protect Islamic values and traditions.
The Kingdom has intensified its negotiations with the WTO and hopes to become a member of the body by June.
Spelling out Saudi reservations, the sources said the Kingdom wanted a total ban on the import of satellite Internet receivers, pork, alcohol and narcotics.
Saudi Arabia also bans investment in real estate in Makkah and Madinah, Tawafa (pilgrim guides) services during Haj and Umrah, and travel, tourism and transport services. Other areas remaining off-limits for foreign investment are food supply for the army and security forces, production of explosives for civil purposes and criminal and security investigation.
“Saudi negotiators had a tough time during talks on insurance services before the Kingdom passed the new insurance law,” Al-Watan daily quoted the sources as saying.
Saudi Arabia has already signed WTO agreements with 30 countries including Canada, South Africa, Taiwan and Switzerland. The agreement with the United States is the last major bilateral hurdle for the Kingdom before joining the WTO, a global trade body set up in 1995 to lower barriers to the exchange of goods and services among members. The Kingdom signed an agreement with the European Union in August last year.
Responding to comments on the way the negotiation process had visibly speeded up over the past eight months, Deputy Minister for Trade and Industry Fawaz Al-Alamy said that this was primarily due to economic reforms initiated by Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard. It was those changes that “really helped move the negotiations along,” he explained.
