The economy of Saudi Arabia is booming and it needs more market access to realise its full potential, according to officials of two international trade bodies.

Addressing a meeting at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI), Valentine Rugwabiza, assistant director-general of WTO, and Patricia Francis, executive director of the International Trade Centre (ITC), both bodies based in Geneva, advised that the Saudi business sector should make efforts to gain benefits from the Kingdom's World Trade Organization (WTO) accession.

They said businesses, especially small and medium enterprises (SMEs), should closely interact with the  through their chambers of commerce and industry to know how they can benefit from it.

Rugwabiza said even though the kingdom became a WTO member after 12 years of negotiations, not much progress has been made by the business sector in overcoming the challenges of the accession processes. "This is partly because the business sector has not realised the benefits it could accrue from the country's accession to the world trade body," she said.

Rugwabiza said that more market access is also needed in the light of the new mega cities coming up in the kingdom.

Francis said the ITC had a vast resource of trade information that member countries could benefit from, especially in terms of quality of products and services, and pricing, as well as understanding business risks and marketplaces.