JEDDAH, 18 September 2004 — A US trade official has said that Saudi Arabia is unlikely to join the World Trade Organization in the coming months as Saudi officials have hoped. “I can’t give you a time line, but it’s not imminent,” the official said when asked how close Riyadh was to wrapping up talks with the United States and other trading partners.
But WTO spokesman Joseph Bosch said negotiations for the Kingdom’s accession to the organization were progressing well. “There is a big possibility that Saudi Arabia may get WTO membership this year,” Al-Eqtisadiah business daily quoted Bosch as saying.
Bosch confirmed that the Saudi team was present in Geneva on Wednesday to complete bilateral negotiations with some countries. However, he said he did not know when Riyadh would complete its WTO talks with Washington. US and Saudi negotiators met here on Thursday and Friday and again on Monday to discuss the latest efforts by the Kingdom to bring its copyright and patent protection laws up to WTO standards.
“They have said across the table that there are problems in IPR (intellectual property right) protections. That’s a positive (development). Now they have to try to figure out how to fix some of the problems,” Reuters quoted the official as saying.
The two sides also discussed steps Riyadh was taking to bring its food product shelf-life restrictions in line with international norms, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Saudi officials have indicated for more than a year that a final agreement on entry into the WTO was just around the corner. In June, Minister of Commerce and Industry Hashem Yamani said he expected talks to be finished this fall.
US Ambassador James C. Oberwetter has said his country would support the Kingdom’s WTO accession. “I am making contacts with officials in Washington to pursue the matter and do whatever possible to advance the Kingdom’s accession to the organization,” he said.
The United States is the only WTO member country with which Saudi Arabia has not yet reached a bilateral agreement. However, Dr. Fawaz Al-Alamy, deputy commerce and industry minister, has reported that negotiations with Washington had reached “advanced stages.”
“We have come a long way in our efforts to join the organization,” Alamy said, adding that the Kingdom has signed bilateral WTO agreements with 35 countries. To complete its bid, Saudi Arabia must reach a multilateral agreement with all 148 WTO members covering rules such as intellectual property protection and food safety.
