STAY-PUFFED RICE?

Ministry official: Saudi Arabia to lift economic embargo on Israel (Haim Bior, Ha'aretz, 11/15/05)

Saudi Arabia has agreed to lift its economic embargo on Israel so that it can join the World Trade Organization, the Ministry of Industry and Trade said on Tuesday. The decision makes Saudi Arabia the first Arab country to agree to lift the embargo.

There was no official confirmation of Saudi Arabia's reported agreement to cancel the embargo from either Riyadh or the WTO. . . .

"The Saudi commitment is likely to lead several other countries that are candidates for joining the trade organizations to take a similar step and renounce the embargo in an unequivocal way, and not as a by-product of their participation in the organization," he said. . . .

Saudi Arabia's readiness to lift the embargo is a more far-reaching step than those taken by other Arab countries that have joined the WTO, such as Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. The Saudi agreement came after extensive negotiations between Israel's Industry, Trade and Labor Ministry and WTO leaders. The WTO was also subject to American pressure on the matter.

The Caliph lives in Washington.

Posted by David Cohen at November 15, 2005 5:19 PM