SA and The Gulf: Doin' Da Free Trade

I seen you 'round for a long long time
I really 'membered you when you drink my wine

Why can't we be friends?
--War

The SA contingent finally got the talks away from anti-semitic BS, and got down to negotiating some free trade, which is great. Any broadening and developing of the ME economies is positive, when so much of the petro-wealth is concentrated in the royal family.

Money Quote:

"[Arab countries] have the petrodollars and they want to go to the American markets, but they don't have the products," ..

It's interesting that so many countries, like Japan, and other proposed regional trading blocs (CAFTA) are working outside the WTO's Doha round of talks after the last failure.

It's great that trade is being promoted, but it is highly inefficient to negotiate these FTA's in bilateral agreements outside the WTO...It's positive, but it could be better. Let's hope Doha comes back.