The General Authority for Foreign Trade in Saudi Arabia announced the entry into force of the agreement on liberalizing trade in services between Arab countries as of October 14, after the completion of the ratification documents of three Arab countries: Saudi Arabia on November 1, 2018 as the first country to ratify it, Egypt on March 25, 2019, and Jordan on July 14, 2019. Noting that the agreement witnessed the participation of ten Arab countries and is expected to be ratified by the rest of the other countries.
The Governor of the General Authority for Foreign Trade Abdul Rahman Al-Harbi, said that "the agreement aims to liberalize trade in services between Arab countries through three pillars: The first is to establish a general framework for the gradual liberalization of trade in services between Arab countries and create an enabling environment to facilitate trade in services among them, with the aim of enhancing and activating the Arab economic cooperation and integration.
He added: "the second pillar focuses on promoting the common interests of Arab countries in the field of services on the basis of mutual benefit and a balance between rights and obligations. While the third pillar focuses on taking into account the development conditions of each of the States parties to the Convention, in particular the situation of the Arab LDCs."
The agreement comes with an Arab orientation to the importance of liberalizing trade in services in parallel with the liberalization of trade in goods to achieve the goals of the Greater Arab Free Trade Area, and in line with their commitments within the framework of the World Trade Organization.
Source (Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper, Edited)
