Saudi Arabia said it would impose duties on foreign goods imported through Bahrain if the Gulf state pressed ahead with implementing a free trade agreement with the United States. Finance Minister Dr. Ibrahim Al-Assaf said the Kingdom will be forced to take measures, including legal action, to protect its interests from being harmed by unilateral free trade agreements concluded by Gulf Cooperation Council states with other countries.
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The Kingdom will return to imposing customs duties in trading with GCC member states which breach the GCC's common tariff, he warned. "Foreign goods coming through these countries will be taxed," the minister told a press conference in Riyadh. Bahrain's signing of a free trade agreement with the US angered the Kingdom ahead of the recent GCC summit held in December in Manama. The Kingdom criticized its neighbors for forging separate economic and security agreements with foreign powers, accusing them of weakening Gulf solidarity. It said such unilateral moves undermine the GCC's economic integration efforts. The GCC groups Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. |