Concluding remarks by the Chairperson

1. This first Trade Policy Review of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has given us a better understanding of the evolution of its trade and related policies since its accession to the WTO in 2005, and enabled us collectively to measure the challenges it faces in maintaining its economic prosperity.  Our discussion has proved more engaging thanks to the full and open participation of the Saudi delegation, led by H.E. Dr. Tawfiq Al-Rabiah, Minister of Commerce and Industry, and by the insightful remarks made by the discussant, H.E. Ambassador Joakim Reiter of Sweden, as well as the active participation by numerous Members.

2. Saudi Arabia’s sound economic policies and its outward-looking trade regime have enabled it to successfully weather the global crisis without backsliding on trade liberalization despite a deterioration of certain macroeconomic indicators in 2009. Saudi Arabia has been encouraged by Members to continue its structural reforms and development strategy which, together with high oil export earnings, have contributed to a positive economic performance during the period under review.  Saudi Arabia is also taking steps to diversify the economy away from hydrocarbons and ensure intergenerational equity in the exploitation of its non-renewable resources through the improvement of education and health services and modernization of its infrastructure. A key challenge of Saudi Arabia’s development process is to increase the participation of the private sector (local and foreign) in the economy and scale-back reliance on the public sector to absorb domestic labour.

3. Members welcomed Saudi Arabia’s commitment to the multilateral trading system and encouraged it to further foster its participation and leadership in the WTO commensurate with its growing importance, regionally, worldwide and not least as a G20 member, given that it benefits from the open trading system and is relying on trade for its own goals of economic diversification. Saudi Arabia’s market for all products is open. Saudi Arabia participates in two overlapping regional trade agreements: the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), where full implementation of the customs union is expected to take place by the end of 2015, and the Pan Arab Free Trade Area (PAFTA).

4. The numerous statements, questions and replies voiced in the course of this Review have highlighted the fact that there is room for further streamlining of Saudi Arabia’s trade and trade‑related policies. There are in fact a number of areas where reforms could be both beneficial to Saudi Arabia and would help strengthen its international trade, which Saudi Arabia itself acknowledged as being integral to its continued prosperity. The Saudi authorities might give thought to improvements that could be made in the following spheres:

• Tariffs: Despite Saudi Arabia’s relatively low level of tariff protection, some Members called for further action, including bringing its tariff bindings down close to its applied tariff rates.
• SPS and TBT: Saudi Arabia was encouraged to improve transparency by allowing interested parties more time to review and comment on standards and SPS measures, and eliminate certain technical requirements to further reduce costs for traders.
• Investment and business environment: Members acknowledged the recent measures taken by Saudi Arabia to improve its investment and business environment. They requested Saudi Arabia to communicate this better through actively promoting policy transparency as well as through enhanced WTO notifications, which would further facilitate trade and investment.
• Government procurement: Some Members encouraged Saudi Arabia to amend its government procurement regime to remove the price preferences for domestic and GCC products, and accede as soon as possible to the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA).
• Competition: Saudi Arabia was requested to consider broadening the scope of its competition legislation and to cover public and wholly state-owned corporations given that State ownership remains significant throughout the economy.
• Intellectual property: Several Members noted the steps taken by Saudi Arabia to improve the protection of intellectual property and the Saudi delegation also emphasized the importance of a strong and efficient intellectual property system.  However, some Members encouraged Saudi Arabia to further strengthen its implementation and enforcement actions.
• Agriculture: Some delegations welcomed Saudi Arabia’s programme to encourage private companies to invest in farm projects abroad for food security purposes and encouraged the Government to use this as a basis for deepening mutually beneficial collaboration with host countries.
• Energy: Some Members encouraged Saudi Arabia to review its domestic prices on energy products in view of its plans to become a more energy-efficient economy.
• Services: Despite progress in the liberalization of trade in services, Members continued to be concerned by foreign ownership and market access restrictions in some areas, such as audio-visual, media, and land transportation.

5. This successfully concludes our first Review of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The large number of advance questions and the many interventions by Members indicate the important role played by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the multilateral trading system. Following the global financial crisis that started in 2008 and current uncertainty in the global economy, the policy direction that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is going to take will be very important for its future development and for the world economy at large.