[SwF] Amity with Israel opens WTO door
"Media Watch" <[email protected]> Wed, 16 Nov 2005 08:26:42 +0300
| Newsgroups | gmane.culture.talk.share-with-friends |
|---|---|
| Message-ID | <[email protected]> |
------=_NextPart_000_005D_01C5EA87.78EC16F0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Amity with Israel opens WTO door By John Zarocostas - THE WASHINGTON TIMES - November 12, 2005 http://washingtontimes.com/world/20051112-123734-4633r.htm GENEVA -- Saudi Arabia has agreed to end all economic boycotts of Israel, a= llowing the World Trade Organization (WTO) yesterday to admit the oil-rich = kingdom as its 149th member, diplomats said.=20 Saudi officials did not comment on the Israel boycott, which had been the k= ey obstacle during the kingdom's 12-year bid to gain entry. U.S. and Israel= i officials said the boycott issue had been resolved.=20 "I am very satisfied with the fact that Saudi Arabia has complied with all = the rules of the WTO," said Itzhak Levanon, Israel's ambassador to the glob= al trade body.=20 "I hope it opens the door to a better future on the horizon in the region,"= the Israeli envoy said. The WTO's ruling general council, which includes t= he United States and Israel, endorsed the Saudi entry during a special sess= ion yesterday.=20 The kingdom's minister for commerce and industry, Hashim Yamani, signed the= protocol of accession, which means that Saudi Arabia will become a full me= mber on Dec. 11, just days before a big WTO meeting in Hong Kong. Mr. Yama= ni told delegates that the "door has been opened for one of the largest fre= e-market economies to become a member.=20 To join, Saudi Arabia agreed to scrap all economic boycotts and it pledged = not to resort to any future discriminatory trade measures against the Jewis= h state, diplomats said.=20 Restrictions on foreign investment in banking, insurance, telecommunication= s and other service industries had also been an obstacle. The Saudi protoco= l will allow foreign ownership of up to 60 percent for banking and insuranc= e, and up to 70 percent for telecommunications. Pascal Lamy, WTO director-g= eneral, said in the accession process Saudi Arabia "undertook important eco= nomic reforms, which it is fair to say have touched virtually all sectors o= f its economy." Saad Alfarargi, ambassador of the 22-member Arab League, said that Saudi Ar= abia's membership will benefit world trade. "Saudi Arabia has its own weig= ht, economically, commercially, and WTO membership will allow for more inve= stments and employment," Mr. Alfarargi told The Washington Times.=20 John Weekes, a former Canadian chief trade negotiator and WTO ambassador, c= alled Saudi Arabia's entry a major development for economies in the region.= "It's clear, more and more -- as witnessed with China's entry in 2001 -- = that WTO membership and economic reforms go hand in hand," Mr. Weekes said.= He said that the completion of the Saudi-WTO entry talks "shows that thos= e in the kingdom who want to promote modernization have prevailed."=20 WTO entry also signifies a major political victory for King Abdullah, who f= or years as crown prince championed a reform agenda for his kingdom of 26 m= illion, diplomats said. Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil producer, wa= s the world's 19th- largest exporter in 2004 with trade shipments worth $12= 6.2 billion. ------=_NextPart_000_005D_01C5EA87.78EC16F0 Content-Type: text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1400" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> <H2><FONT color=#800000>Amity with Israel opens WTO door</FONT></H2> <P id=twt-byline>By John Zarocostas - THE WASHINGTON TIMES - November 12, 2005</P> <P><A href="http://washingtontimes.com/world/20051112-123734-4633r.htm">http://washingtontimes.com/world/20051112-123734-4633r.htm</A></P> <P><FONT face=Verdana>GENEVA -- Saudi Arabia has agreed to end all economic boycotts of Israel, allowing the World Trade Organization (WTO) yesterday to admit the oil-rich kingdom as its 149th member, diplomats said. </FONT></P> <P><FONT face=Verdana>Saudi officials did not comment on the Israel boycott, which had been the key obstacle during the kingdom's 12-year bid to gain entry. U.S. and Israeli officials said the boycott issue had been resolved. </FONT></P> <P><FONT face=Verdana>"I am very satisfied with the fact that Saudi Arabia has complied with all the rules of the WTO," said Itzhak Levanon, Israel's ambassador to the global trade body. </FONT></P> <P><FONT face=Verdana>"I hope it opens the door to a better future on the horizon in the region," the Israeli envoy said. </FONT><FONT face=Verdana>The WTO's ruling general council, which includes the United States and Israel, endorsed the Saudi entry during a special session yesterday. <BR></FONT></P> <P><FONT face=Verdana>The kingdom's minister for commerce and industry, Hashim Yamani, signed the protocol of accession, which means that Saudi Arabia will become a full member on Dec. 11, just days before a big WTO meeting in Hong Kong. Mr. Yamani told delegates that the "door has been opened for one of the largest free-market economies to become a member. <BR></FONT><FONT face=Verdana>To join, Saudi Arabia agreed to scrap all economic boycotts and it pledged not to resort to any future discriminatory trade measures against the Jewish state, diplomats said. <BR></FONT></P> <P><FONT face=Verdana>Restrictions on foreign investment in banking, insurance, telecommunications and other service industries had also been an obstacle. The Saudi protocol will allow foreign ownership of up to 60 percent for banking and insurance, and up to 70 percent for telecommunications. Pascal Lamy, WTO director-general, said in the accession process Saudi Arabia "undertook important economic reforms, which it is fair to say have touched virtually all sectors of its economy."</FONT></P> <P><FONT face=Verdana>Saad Alfarargi, ambassador of the 22-member Arab League, said that Saudi Arabia's membership will benefit world trade. "Saudi Arabia has its own weight, economically, commercially, and WTO membership will allow for more investments and employment," Mr. Alfarargi told The Washington Times. <BR></FONT></P> <P><FONT face=Verdana>John Weekes, a former Canadian chief trade negotiator and WTO ambassador, called Saudi Arabia's entry a major development for economies in the region. "It's clear, more and more -- as witnessed with China's entry in 2001 -- that WTO membership and economic reforms go hand in hand," Mr. Weekes said. He said that the completion of the Saudi-WTO entry talks "shows that those in the kingdom who want to promote modernization have prevailed." <BR></FONT></P> <P><FONT face=Verdana>WTO entry also signifies a major political victory for King Abdullah, who for years as crown prince championed a reform agenda for his kingdom of 26 million, diplomats said. Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil producer, was the world's 19th- largest exporter in 2004 with trade shipments worth $126.2 billion.</FONT></P></FONT></DIV></FONT></DIV> <!-- |**|begin egp html banner|**| --> <br> <div style="text-align:center; color:#909090; width:500px;"> <hr style="border-bottom:1px; width:500px; text-align:left;"> <tt>YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS</tt> </div> <br> <ul> <tt><li type=square> Visit your group "<a href="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Share-with-Friends">Share-with-Friends</a>" on the web.<br> </tt> <tt><li type=square> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:<br> <a href="mailto:Share-with-Friends-unsubscribe-hHKSG33TihhbjbujkaE4pw@public.gmane.org?subject=Unsubscribe">Share-with-Friends-unsubscribe-hHKSG33TihhbjbujkaE4pw@public.gmane.org</a><br> </tt> <tt><li type=square> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the <a href="http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/">Yahoo! Terms of Service</a>.</tt> </ul> <br> <div style="text-align:center; color:#909090; width:500px;"> <hr style="border-bottom:1px; width:500px; text-align:left;"> </div> </br> <!-- |**|end egp html banner|**| --> </BODY></HTML> ------=_NextPart_000_005D_01C5EA87.78EC16F0--