S Arabia eyes WTO

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia hopes to sign a bilateral accord with the US by September for the kingdom’s entry into the WTO, its foreign minister said on Wednesday.Saudi Arabia is one of relatively few countries still not a WTO member and has held intensive negotiations with Washington about its bid to join the world trade body. Asked if the bilateral agreement would be signed during his visit to the US in September, foreign minister Prince Saud Al Faisal told reporters, “It could be signed before then”. — GDN

Spanish economy up

MADRID: Spain’s economy kept growing at a healthy rate in the second quarter, expanding by 0.9 per cent from the previous three-month period. The figures showed the Spanish economy growing at the same rate as in the previous two quarters. They were in line with the forecasts

of economists, who have cited strong consumer demand and a pickup in investment spending.

— AP