Bridges Weekly Trade News Digest • Volume 9 • Number 38 • 9th November 2005
Saudi Arabia Set To Join WTO
The stage is set for Saudi Arabia to become a Member of the WTO. At the last meeting of the Working Party for the Accession of Saudi Arabia, held on 28 October, Members approved all of the Working Party documents. The WTO General Council is expected to formally approve its accession at its next meeting on 11 November, making Saudi Arabia the 149th Member of the organisation.
The Saudi negotiating team was led by Hashim Yamani, Minister of Commerce and Industry, who noted that "our road to accession has been long but finally rewarding," and that the country had made "far-reaching, very substantial and commercially meaningful concessions and commitments on goods and services."
The Saudi accession negotiations began 12 years ago. In early September this year, Saudi Arabia concluded a bilateral agreement with the US, its main outstanding trading partner (see BRIDGES Weekly, 14 September 2005). Saudi Arabia and the EU also recently reached a last-minute agreement regarding dual energy pricing. Although the two parties signed a bilateral agreement in 2003, they had different interpretations of the issue. Under the Saudi dual energy pricing policy domestic natural gas prices are lower than export prices, something the EU sees as a de facto subsidy to upstream domestic industry. The Saudis claim this policy is legal, and that they had made no commitment to change it but had simply promised to ensure that domestic prices would be commercially based. According to the final accession document, Saudi Arabia will be able to maintain its current system, but the deal will not set a precedent for future accession agreements.
ICTSD reporting; "WTO Members Approve Saudi Accession," ARAB NEWS, 29 October 2005; "WTO Completes Saudi Accession Talks; EU Concedes on Domestic Energy Pricing" WTO REPORTER, 31 October 2005; "Saudi to celebrate WTO membership in Geneva Friday," MIDDLE EAST NORTH AFRICA FINANCIAL NETWORK, 8 November 2005.