The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the World Trade Organization (WTO) conducted important negotiations on 24-25 February.
The Minister of Commerce and Industry, Dr Hashim bin Abdullah Yamani, who is also Head of the negotiating team in charge of the Kingdom’s bid for accession to the WTO, addressed participants of the negotiations, including Minister of State, Cabinet Member and Deputy Head of the team Abdullah bin Ahmed Zainal Ali Ridha; the Kingdom’s permanent representative to the WTO, Dr Abdulwahab bin Abdulsalam Attar; members of the team, and a technical team.
In his speech, Dr Yamani stressed that the Kingdom has accomplished a great deal on the path of economic reform, the restructuring of governmental establishments, and the issuance of regulations relating to WTO agreements, including protection of intellectual properties rights, import licenses, health measures, customs evaluation and technical barriers to trade. He added that the Kingdom has fostered a positive environment for investors, establishing the Investment General Authority and reducing taxes on the profits of foreign companies from 45 to 20%.
Dr Yamani said that the steps towards the Kingdom’s accession to the WTO are almost complete. The Kingdom is about to sign bilateral agreements on market access in commodities and service sectors with 30 members of the WTO; negotiations with five other member countries are in advanced stages, and will be concluded imminently.
Source: SPA
