Saudi Arabia's attempt to join the World Trade Organisation has hit new snags and negotiations on the kingdom's accession will now continue after the summer break, a WTO official said Thursday.
Fresh meetings between the Saudis and some of its future trading partners in Geneva this week "did not produce the expected breakthrough", a WTO official said.
"The bilateral negotiation with the United States is not completed and the negotiation with the EU, which looked settled a few weeks ago, now looks like having some last minute hurdles", the official added on condition of anonymity.
After their previous meeting in April, Pakistan's ambassador Munir Akram, who is leading the talks, said they were in their "final stages" ahead of this week's "very substantial" meetings in Geneva.
Saudi Arabia is hoping to conclude a deal to join the WTO before the end of 2004.
However, the United States said during meetings on Wednesday and Thursday that it still had outstanding concerns about the liberalisation of the insurance industry in Saudi Arabia, the WTO official said.
The European Union also raised new concerns about the Saudi insurance regulation and dual pricing for gas in the Gulf state, he added.
Saudi Arabia's Trade and Industry Minister Hachem bin Abdallah bin Hachem Yamani said the kingdom had concluded bilateral negotiations with India and Panama on its accession to the global trading body.