The Commentary said: "The United States has an enormous stake in the success of King Abdullah's new statecraft, and it must support this popular leader through quiet diplomacy. Unfortunately, there are those in Washington who believe that Saudi Arabia is doing too little for confronting and uprooting terrorism. The propagation of this perception is extremely dangerous because, to the extent that Washington distances itself from the king and his nascent efforts to reform the institutions and foreign affairs of Saudi Arabia, it plays into the hands of both Riyadh's and Washington's enemy terrorists, like Osama bin Laden and Abu Musab Zarqawi. By his actions in the first 100 days King Abdullah has breathed new life into the political body of the world's largest oil producer and most important anchor of global energy security. For example, consideration of Saudi Arabia's entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) was frozen until King Abdullah took power. Riyadh has now agreed to end all economic boycotts and pledged to refrain from implementing discriminatory trade sanctions, thus allowing the WTO to admit Saudi Arabia as its 149th member. King Abdullah understands that entry into the WTO and economic reformgo hand in hand. Therefore, most restrictions on foreign investment in banking, insurance, telecommunications and other industries have been removed, thus opening the door to one of the largest free-market economies in the world. The WTO entry signifies a major political victory for King Abdullah." --MORE1245 Local Time 0945 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/305810