JEDDAH, 19 October 2005 — The 150-member Shoura Council yesterday approved Saudi Arabia’s accession to the World Trade Organization, ahead of a key WTO meeting in Geneva later this month which is expected to admit Riyadh to the body.
The Shoura endorsement came after Commerce and Industry Minister Hashem Yamani allayed the fears of some members on the aftermath of WTO accession.
The minister said the negative effects of WTO were not restricted to Saudi Arabia but encompassed all member countries. Yamani expressed his confidence that Saudi Arabia would be able to attend the WTO ministerial meeting in Hong Kong in December after becoming a full member of the organization.
He said consumers in the Kingdom would benefit from the WTO as it would intensify competition between companies to provide quality services at reasonable rates. The Kingdom has taken into consideration matters such as Saudization and the interests of small businesses while opening up certain sectors, he added.
“Every WTO member country has the right to stop dealing with a member country for reasons related to national security and international relations,” the Saudi Press Agency quoted Yamani as telling the Shoura.
The presentation concerning the WTO was attended by State Minister Abdullah Zainal, deputy chairman of the negotiating team, Prince Abdul Aziz ibn Salman, assistant minister of petroleum and mineral resources, and a number of the team’s members.
Yamani said the meeting of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah with US President George W. Bush in his Texas ranch five months ago had played a major role in speeding the Kingdom’s WTO accession. He also commended the efforts made by the negotiation team, which included 50 experts from 25 government agencies.
The Shoura stressed the need for training the national cadre to face competition after the country’s accession. It also called for holding workshops on WTO protocols and conditions in cooperation with the chambers of commerce.
The Kingdom has already presented a package of documents to the WTO working team, which will be submitted to a key meeting on Oct. 28. At that session, the working team is virtually certain to support the package, clearing the way for entry to be approved by the WTO’s ruling General Council in early November.
Some Saudi businessmen have expressed their concern over WTO membership. Fawaz Al-Tuwaijeri, who has investments in agriculture, said WTO accession would have a negative effect on the Kingdom’s industrial and agricultural sectors.
He said he feared that Saudi Arabia and other developing countries would become dumping grounds for major producers such as the United States and European countries.
