Bahraini Spirit
November 12th, 2005, 02:15 AM
Hi, well all I can say is FINALLY, welcome to the club, enjoy:
http://gulf-daily-news.com/source/xxviii/237/images/Bpic1.jpg
The World Trade Organisation gave approval yesterday for Saudi Arabia to join the global body after more than a decade of talks, bringing in the biggest oil producer in the world and a heavyweight in Opec and the Middle East. A Saudi Arabian official said the decision flowed from structural reform in the kingdom and that Saudi Arabia would champion the interests of poor countries.
The Kenyan trade ambassador, Amina Mohammed, who leads the WTO's ruling General Council, said: "We've just taken the decision that allows Saudi Arabia to become the 149th member of the organisation."
The General Council, which groups all 148 current member states, gave Saudi Arabia the go-ahead at a special session in Geneva, after more than a decade of negotiations.
Saudi Arabia is the biggest oil producer in the world and is the main force in the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
Other Opec members which are also in the WTO are Indonesia, Kuwait, Nigeria, Qatar, the UAE and Venezuela.
WTO chief Pascal Lamy welcomed the decision, telling journalists: "It's been a long process, and I firmly believe that it's good for Saudi Arabia, it's good for the trading partners of Saudi Arabia, and it's good for the organisation."
"One more heavyweight around the table is good news," Lamy said.
Saudi Commerce Minister Hashim Abdulla Yamani said: "This is a high point in the programme of economic and structural reform that Saudi Arabia undertook.
"The accession will further integrate Saudi Arabia into the world economy. It will also deepen the universality of the multilateral trading system," he told journalists.
Under WTO rules, Saudi Arabia will formally become a member on December 11, just in time for the organisation's Hong Kong conference which starts two days later.
After missing its target of joining the WTO last year, Saudi Arabia fixed its sight on membership in time for the meeting.
Yamani signalled that Saudi Arabia would press the interests of poor nations, "to ensure that they secure an increasing share in international trade commensurate with the needs of their development".
A country wishing to join the WTO must first offer market opening concessions to its main trading partners, including cutting customs duties. The accords it reaches in bilateral talks are subsequently widened to all other WTO members.
The candidate must then make a commitment to ensure its trade legislation complies with all WTO rules as the last step before actually becoming a member.
India's trade ambassador Ujal Singh Bhatia welcomed Saudi membership.
"You can't keep a very important country like Saudi Arabia, which has something like a fourth of the world's oil reserves, out of the multilateral system. By their accession, the global trading system is strengthened, becomes more predictable," he said.
Saudi Arabia first applied to join the WTO's predecessor, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (Gatt), in 1993. Two years later, that became an application to join the WTO.
In September, Saudi Arabia signed a trade deal with the United States, seen as a crucial step.
US officials have billed membership as a boost for reform in the Muslim country.
Much of the delay in the membership talks focused primarily on economic issues.
They included US and EU disquiet about barriers to liberalisation in the Saudi insurance sector, which is run along Islamic principles.
The EU was also concerned that differences between export and domestic prices for gas gave Saudi industry an unfair advantage.
But there was also a more political angle.
The United States said the kingdom had explicitly undertaken to allow trade with all WTO members, including Israel, which remains subject to a formal boycott by many Arab countries.
Asked yesterday whether membership would ease relations with Israel, Saudi Arabian Assistant Minister of Petroleum Affairs Prince Abdulaziz said: "We are just there as members of the WTO. Nothing more."
http://gulf-daily-news.com/source/xxviii/237/images/Bpic1.jpg
The World Trade Organisation gave approval yesterday for Saudi Arabia to join the global body after more than a decade of talks, bringing in the biggest oil producer in the world and a heavyweight in Opec and the Middle East. A Saudi Arabian official said the decision flowed from structural reform in the kingdom and that Saudi Arabia would champion the interests of poor countries.
The Kenyan trade ambassador, Amina Mohammed, who leads the WTO's ruling General Council, said: "We've just taken the decision that allows Saudi Arabia to become the 149th member of the organisation."
The General Council, which groups all 148 current member states, gave Saudi Arabia the go-ahead at a special session in Geneva, after more than a decade of negotiations.
Saudi Arabia is the biggest oil producer in the world and is the main force in the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
Other Opec members which are also in the WTO are Indonesia, Kuwait, Nigeria, Qatar, the UAE and Venezuela.
WTO chief Pascal Lamy welcomed the decision, telling journalists: "It's been a long process, and I firmly believe that it's good for Saudi Arabia, it's good for the trading partners of Saudi Arabia, and it's good for the organisation."
"One more heavyweight around the table is good news," Lamy said.
Saudi Commerce Minister Hashim Abdulla Yamani said: "This is a high point in the programme of economic and structural reform that Saudi Arabia undertook.
"The accession will further integrate Saudi Arabia into the world economy. It will also deepen the universality of the multilateral trading system," he told journalists.
Under WTO rules, Saudi Arabia will formally become a member on December 11, just in time for the organisation's Hong Kong conference which starts two days later.
After missing its target of joining the WTO last year, Saudi Arabia fixed its sight on membership in time for the meeting.
Yamani signalled that Saudi Arabia would press the interests of poor nations, "to ensure that they secure an increasing share in international trade commensurate with the needs of their development".
A country wishing to join the WTO must first offer market opening concessions to its main trading partners, including cutting customs duties. The accords it reaches in bilateral talks are subsequently widened to all other WTO members.
The candidate must then make a commitment to ensure its trade legislation complies with all WTO rules as the last step before actually becoming a member.
India's trade ambassador Ujal Singh Bhatia welcomed Saudi membership.
"You can't keep a very important country like Saudi Arabia, which has something like a fourth of the world's oil reserves, out of the multilateral system. By their accession, the global trading system is strengthened, becomes more predictable," he said.
Saudi Arabia first applied to join the WTO's predecessor, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (Gatt), in 1993. Two years later, that became an application to join the WTO.
In September, Saudi Arabia signed a trade deal with the United States, seen as a crucial step.
US officials have billed membership as a boost for reform in the Muslim country.
Much of the delay in the membership talks focused primarily on economic issues.
They included US and EU disquiet about barriers to liberalisation in the Saudi insurance sector, which is run along Islamic principles.
The EU was also concerned that differences between export and domestic prices for gas gave Saudi industry an unfair advantage.
But there was also a more political angle.
The United States said the kingdom had explicitly undertaken to allow trade with all WTO members, including Israel, which remains subject to a formal boycott by many Arab countries.
Asked yesterday whether membership would ease relations with Israel, Saudi Arabian Assistant Minister of Petroleum Affairs Prince Abdulaziz said: "We are just there as members of the WTO. Nothing more."