from 2003 to 2013, "several key services" were privatized—municipal water supply, electricity, telecommunications—and parts of education and health care, traffic control and car accident reporting were also privatized. according to arab news columnist abdel aziz aluwaisheg, "in almost every one of these areas, consumers have raised serious concerns about the performance of these privatized entities." the tadawul all share index (tasi) of the saudi stock exchange peaked at 16,712.64 in 2005, and closed at 8,535.60, at the end of 2013. in november 2005, saudi arabia was approved as a member of the world trade organization. negotiations to join had focused on the degree to which saudi arabia is willing to increase market access to foreign goods and in 2000, the government established the saudi arabian general investment authority to encourage foreign direct investment in the kingdom. saudi arabia maintains a list of sectors in which foreign investment is prohibited, but the government plans to open some closed sectors such as telecommunications, insurance, and power transmission/distribution over time.