The Saudis Slip In Silently; There is no record that the United States of others even tried to use the WTO negotiators to loosen the OPEC cartel's stronghold on oil.

Byline: Jeffrey E. Garten (Garten is the Juan Trippe Professor at the Yale School of Management. He can be contacted at jeffrey.garten@yale.edu.)

The big news is often in the silence. that was certainly true in the case of Saudi Arabia's quiet entry into the World Trade Organization. Last week trade ambassadors in Geneva blessed the move, which will be made official at the upcoming summit in Hong Kong. It's been a long haul--Riyadh has been knocking at the WTO's door since 1993--which hints at lengthy and difficult behind-the-scenes negotiations.

Yet there have been few headlines and little public debate about the linkup between the world's most important multilateral organization and a country that possesses 25 percent of the global oil reserves, greatly influences the price of the Earth's most important natural resource and affects the trade balance of virtually every country. Could it be that trade negotiators tried to bury serious flaws in this process? It sure looks that way. At the least, some big issues should have received more attention by the U.S. Congress and others.

The comparison with China says it all. Beijing's accession to the WTO in 2000 was preceded by at least a year of international hand-wringing about the commitments China would formally undertake to open its economy, and came with an agreement that its progress would be monitored by the WTO and key governments. Reflecting the huge stakes, Congress demanded to approve the deal cut by the White House. In fact, the West used the allure of WTO membership as leverage to open up the Middle Kingdom more broadly than any previous candidate, and certainly more than Beijing originally bargained for. All this was done in full public view, making it harder for China to later renege on its obligations.

But there was no such high-profile activity in the case of Saudi Arabia. Hardly a peep was heard from Congress, for example. And the result is unambiguously disappointing. While Saudi Arabia has made market-opening concessions in manufacturing, agriculture, insurance and telecommunications, more than 90 percent of its exports are in the petroleum sector. And here it is hard to discern any softening in the kingdom's longtime prohibition against foreign participation in oil exploration and production.

When it comes to accounting transparency--a critical feature of any market-oriented economy--Saudi Arabia gets a flunking grade. One of the great mysteries of the world economy ...