International

Membership in International Organizations

After a lengthy waiting and reform period, Saudi Arabia gained full membership into the World Trade Organization in December 2005. Saudi Arabia also maintains membership in the United Nations (UN), most UN specialized agencies, and numerous other international organizations. Regionally, Saudi Arabia has fostered close ties to other Arab and Islamic states through memberships in the Arab Bureau of Education for the Gulf States, Arab Monetary Fund, Arab Sports Federation, Gulf Cooperation Council, Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector, League of Arab States, Muslim World League, Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries, Organization of the Islamic Conference, and Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Saudi Arabia also has membership in the International Monetary Fund.

Major International Treaties

Saudi Arabia is a party to many significant treaties, including international agreements on Biodiversity, Biological Weapons, Chemical Weapons, Climate Change, Conservation, Desertification, Endangered Species, Gas Warfare, Genocide, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Nuclear Nonproliferation, Ozone Layer Protection, and Torture. Saudi Arabia is not a signatory to the Kyoto Protocol or to conventions on Traffic in Women and Children or Terrorism. In 2005 Saudi Arabia ratified the World Health Organization’s first convention on tobacco control. Treaties in Saudi Arabia are confirmed by a royal decree.

Source: Library of Congress – Federal Research Division Country Profile: Saudi Arabia, September 2006