45 days after the entry into force of the Agreement on Liberalization of Trade in Services between Arab States



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The General Authority for Foreign Trade announced the entry into force of the agreement on the liberalization of trade in services between Arab countries on 15 Safar 1441H, corresponding to 14 October 2019, after the conclusion of the agreement. completion of the instruments of ratification by three Arab countries, Saudi Arabia (1 November 2018) as the first country to ratify it. Arab Republic of Egypt (25 March 2019) and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan (14 July 2019).

This agreement is in accordance with Article 32 of the Convention, which states that "this agreement shall be considered three months after the date of deposit of the instruments of ratification by at least three Arab countries", in which the agreement provided for the participation of ten Arab countries and should be ratified and deposited by the rest of these countries. States.

The Governor of the General Authority for Foreign Trade, Abdulrahman Ahmed Al-Harbi, said the agreement was aimed at liberalizing trade in services between Arab countries along three lines. Arab economy.

The second is to promote the common interests of the Arab countries in services on the basis of mutual benefit and the balance of rights and obligations, while the third is to take into account the conditions of development of each of the States parties to the Convention. the Convention, in particular the situation of the least developed Arab countries.

The Arab countries are convinced that it is important to liberalize trade in services alongside the liberalization of trade in goods to achieve the objectives of the Great Arab Free Trade Area and in accordance with their commitments in the framework of 39, World Trade Organization.

The Agreement on Liberalization of Trade in Services between the Arab States offers Kingdom service suppliers better market access to the liberalized service sectors under this agreement. Liberalization in the following sectors: professional services, including legal services, architectural services, engineering and related technical services, medical services, computer and related services, courier services, air transport services Construction , Capital Markets Services and Insurance Services.

The governor explained that the Kingdom was exempted from making more commitments than within the framework of the World Trade Organization "after participating in a series of negotiations with the Arab countries that had started in the first quarter of 2004 "because the Kingdom is one of the few countries to have made commitments in most service sectors during the process of accession to the WTO.

The General Authority for Foreign Trade is scheduled to hold a workshop for the private sector in September 2019 to familiarize Kingdom service providers with the service sectors of the member countries of the agreement in order to maximize the benefits of the private sector. Kingdom's accession to this agreement.

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