The General Authority for Foreign Trade said, based on the principle of reciprocal treatment, Saudi Arabia has decided to enforce a number of measures on its imports from countries applying measures or restrictions on the Kingdom's exports to those countries. Saudi Arabia, which will enforce this as of Wednesday (July 1, 2020), said the Kingdom is invoking this ‘principle of reciprocal treatment' as the actions taken by other countries are not compatible with their commitments to relevant international agreements. In a statement, the authority said that, as part of its continuous follow-up to the flow of Saudi exports to foreign markets, it noted that a number of countries continue to apply a number of measures, conditions and procedures contrary to the provisions and rules of economic and trade international agreements. Such measures and procedures do not provide fair competitiveness of cross trade with those countries. Not only that, they have negative repercussions on the ability of the competitiveness of the private sector of the Kingdom to enter those markets. The statement added that overseeing the Kingdom's commercial interests and preserving its gains from its membership in such agreements and organizations is of top priority to achieve sustainable economic development. The statement said, applying such measures will reduce the negative impact on trade exchanges with those countries, enhance the Saudi private sector's competitiveness, enable the flow of the Kingdom's exports to foreign markets and guarantee the chance of fair competition of cross flow of goods to those countries. — SPA
