The General Authority for Foreign Trade (GAFT) organized a two-day workshop on the Harmonized System (HS) on Tuesday and Wednesday, 14-15 April 2026, at its headquarters in Riyadh. The workshop was attended by more than 40 representatives from 15 government entities, in addition to the Secretariat General of the Gulf Cooperation Council. This initiative comes as part of GAFT’s ongoing efforts to enhance awareness of international trade systems.

The workshop focused on introducing the Harmonized System for the coding and classification of goods, and on strengthening the knowledge of members of the Saudi negotiating technical team for goods and rules of origin, as well as specialists in the trade remedies system in international trade.

Helps over two days, the workshop covered an introduction to the Harmonized System, its structure and numbering, as well as the General Rules for interpretation (GRIs).

The Harmonized System is concerned with the classification and categorization of goods in a consistent and harmonized manner based on scientific and technical foundations. It is a globally unified system that covers more than 98% of internationally traded goods, facilitating customs procedures and systems among countries.

Participating entities included the Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources, Ministry of Investment, Ministry of Energy, Ministry of Economy and Planning, Ministry of Finance, Saudi Standards, Metrology and Quality Organization (SASO), Local Content and Government Procurement Authority, Saudi Export Development Authority, Economic Cities and Special Zones Authority, Zakat, Tax, and Customs Authority, the National Industrial Development and Logistics Program (NIDLP), and the Public Investment Fund (PIF).

It is worth mentioning that GAFT aims to enhance and maximize the Kingdom’s international trade gains, enable Saudi exports to access global markets, attract investments, and defend its interests in foreign trade, contributing to the growth of the national economy.