Saudi Arabia: The Benefits and Burdens of WTO Accession

Saudi Arabia will host the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference on March 13-15 to rally Muslim support for the boycott of Israel. Now that Saudi Arabia has joined the World Trade Organization (WTO), Riyadh is turning its back on assurances it made to Washington that it would adopt all WTO legislation and treat all members equally, including Israel. The Saudi WTO accession is, however, helping the Saudi regime further its goal of diversifying the kingdom's economy, though it will probably miss the full benefits of accession. Even so, Riyadh must eventually face the consequences of future official Saudi-Israeli trade links.