Original links are included though some may have expired.

The Numbers:
Countries outside the World Trade Organization:

Western Hemisphere: Bahamas
East Asia: North Korea, Vietnam, Laos
Europe: Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Monaco, Andorra, Vatican
"Greater Middle East": Afghanistan, Algeria, Azerbaijan, Iraq, Iran, Kazakstan, Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Yemen.

What They Mean:

A thousand years back, the greater Middle East joined China as the world's "globalizing" culture: ninth-century Viking chiefs in Sweden used coins minted in Baghdad; Abbasid shipping carried pepper and ginger from Indonesia to France; Tunisian mathematicians convinced Italy to drop the Roman numeral system and use modern numbers instead. To this era the English language owes such words as chemistry, algebra, tariff, and admiral.

In the modern world, the Middle East has in some ways been the "de-globalizer." Between 1980 and 2000, its share of exports, imports, and worldwide foreign direct investment fell by 75 percent. In sharp contrast to the Americas, Asia, Africa, and Europe; most of the big countries in the Middle East (and Central Asia) remain outside the WTO, unable to influence global trade talks or defend themselves against arbitrary trade discrimination. Together, the countries outside the system account for roughly 200 million of the Middle East's 300 million people and all the Central Asian states but Kyrgyzstan.

But this year's "Arab spring" in politics may have an economic cousin. Four of the good signs:

• Since 2001, three countries have emerged from international sanctions to reenter the global economy: Afghanistan in 2001, Iraq in 2003, and Libya in 2004. Afghanistan now appears to be the fastest-growing exporter of carpets to the United States. Though totals are still quite low, Afghan artisans sent over 1,400 square meters of carpet in 2002, 37,000 in 2004, and may be headed for 100,000 or more in 2005.
• Two of the most populous and influential countries in the larger region -- Pakistan since the 1990s, and more recently Egypt -- have been energetically revising trade policies. Pakistani exports in particular have responded, jumping by almost 40 percent since the turn of the century.
• At the border of Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, Turkey has won approval for the opening of negotiations on membership in the European Union.
• And interest in WTO membership has grown, with six Arab League members, three Central Asian republics and Azerbaijan in the midst of negotiations on membership. In the past month, the United States and Saudi Arabia seem to have come close to finishing these talks.

Further Reading:

Two views of U.S. trade policy and the Muslim world:

1. PPI, in 2003, sees an unintentional emerging tilt against terror-war allies and suggests eliminating tariffs on goods from the "greater Middle East." Senators Max Baucus and John McCain, along with Representatives Cal Dooley and Adam Smith, introduced a bill along these lines in 2004, but did not get administration support. The paper:
http://www.ppionline.org/ppi_ci.cfm?knlgAreaID=108
&subsecID=127&contentID=251254

2. The administration focuses on bilateral trade agreements with smaller Persian Gulf states UAE, Bahrain, Oman, and Qatar. The view from the U.S. Trade Representative Office:
http://www.ustr.gov/World_Regions/Europe_Mediterranean/
Middle_East-North_Africa/Section_Index.html

From the region:

Saudi Arabia -- note that the Kingdom's Commerce Ministry site still needs some work:
http://www.commerce.gov.sa/english/

Lebanon -- Basil Fuleihan, then Lebanese Trade Minister, announces Lebanon's application to join the WTO in 2002:
http://www.economy.gov.lb/MOETEN/MOET-WTOSpeech.html

The Afghanistan Investment Support Agency:
http://www.aisa.org.af/

The Pakistani Export Promotion Bureau, including policy and recent trade statistics:
http://www.epb.gov.pk/epb/index.jsp

And lastly:

A strange account of 10th-century eastern Europe by intrepid Iraqi traveler ibn Fadlan. Not for the squeamish:
http://www.megaone.com/nbulgaria/bulgaria/risala.htm