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| 10 April 2005 | Sunday | 30 Safar 1426 |
S. Arabia to take up WTO entry talks with US next week
Acting US Trade Representative Peter Allgeier and Saudi Commerce and Industry Minister Hashem Yamani are tentatively scheduled to meet in the US capital on Thursday, USTR said.
Saudi Arabia’s chief WTO accession negotiator, Fawaz Al-Alamy, has been in Washington since late March for extensive talks on the oil producer’s long-time bid to join the 148-nation organization based in Geneva.
The United States has urged the kingdom to take stronger action against the illegal copying of US-recorded products. Another obstacle to an agreement has been shelf-life restrictions on food products that Washington says are out of line with international norms.
A USTR spokeswoman had no immediate comment on whether the two sides were close to an agreement.
Clearly, there has been a renewed effort on the part of the Saudis to move the negotiations forward, said Frank Vargo, vice president for international affairs at the National Association of Manufacturers.
It appears that the Saudi government has taken note of the fact that there’s a new trade dynamic beginning to blow through the Middle East. I think that has sparked them to say we ought to move faster, Vargo said.
A deal with the United States would go a long way toward easing Saudi Arabia’s entry into the WTO.
The kingdom must negotiate a market access pact with every WTO member that requests one, as well as a multilateral agreement to bring its domestic rules in line with WTO rules.
Many of Saudi Arabia’s neighbors are already members of the WTO. The United States concluded a free trade pact with Bahrain last year and is expected to wrap up similar deals with the United Arab Emirates and Oman in coming months.
—Reuters
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