Can Saudi Arabia ever join the WTO? (page 3 of 3)

"Helping governments, whether it is the Saudis or the Algerians in their accession efforts with the WTO . . . [are] all pieces [that] add up to something that is quite serious that over the long haul can make a difference," Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs William Burns said in a breakout session with Arab journalists.

That difference is being made through the enhancement of a broad set of goals outlined in the Middle East Partnership Initiative introduced by President Bush nearly two years ago. According to the State Department, "The initiative strives to link Arab, US, and global private-sector businesses, non-governmental organizations, civil society elements and governments together to develop innovative policies and programs that support reform in the region."

According to Burns, "What you're seeing since the launching of the partnership initiative . . . are a series of programs being announced to give some flesh to those broad initiatives, so that the words actually mean something."

But have the words gotten ahead of the fleshing out? Zoellick, who comes across more as an academic than as a diplomat, has flown the globe more than twice over in support of President Bush's broad trade policy. When you talk to him, his optimism is unwavering. But the feeling is a bit different when listening to Saudi officials talk about WTO negotiations. When they speak, they are most often trying to correct some misleading assertion presented in the press.

Thus was the case in April, when a Saudi delegation visited the United States. Usamah Al-Kurdi, a member of the Shura Council, was giving a talk at the US government-sponsored Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE), when a question was posed about reports suggesting WTO negotiations were effectively stalled. Al-Kurdi rather nonchalantly dismissed the claim. WTO negotiations have "not been stalled . . . but are ongoing [and] very close to a conclusion," Al-Kurdi said.

What was unprecedented, even for Washington, was that his comment was immediately supported by a high-level official from Zoellick's office. The official, Cherie Loustaunau, director of the US Trade Representative's Office of the Middle East, stood up during the question-and-answer session to support what Al-Kurdi had so calmly stated. Meeting of minds.

Saudi Arabia is "moving quickly" to meet the requirements necessary for membership in the WTO, and the talks have "not stalled," Loustaunau said. The promise of Saudi accession is enough to make US officials with a stake in it jump out of their shoes when the issue is brought up.

It also shows the close government-to-government relations that exist between the United States and Saudi Arabia over this and other issues - Loustaunau and Al-Kurdi even used the same language in answering the question. Loustaunau went on to describe the plan set out by the US government to have all the Gulf states in line to become free-trade partners by 2013.

Saudi Arabia's WTO membership is a key component in negotiating trade deals with each country in the Gulf, she said. The more you talk to US officials, the more you think that Saudi Arabia is the key and its membership in the WTO will unlock the door to economic, social and political reform in the greater Middle East.

Then enter the greater Middle East initiative, or its most current incarnation, the initiative for reform in the broader Middle East, talks for which began at the June G-8 Summit in Sea Island, Georgia. The initiative, which has met with strong resistance from Saudi Arabia, was made public before the United States had a chance to explain itself and seek the counsel of countries in the Middle East.

The Bush administration has sent envoys to the region since the initiative's leak, primarily to Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan, to outline the plan's particulars How WTO membership fits into the initiative, exactly, has not been explained yet. But it clearly has the opportunity to either help or hinder the process.