The Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council, Dr. Abdullatif Rashid Al-Zayani, participated on Tuesday, 19 March 2019, in the EU-GCC Business Forum, with the participation of business delegations from the GCC and the European Union.

In his speech, Dr. Al-Zayani expressed his thanks and appreciation for the efforts exerted to organize the Forum by the European Commission, the Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Kuwait Direct Investment Promotion Authority , The Federation of GCC Chambers of Commerce  , and the GCC General Secretariat. He stated that holding this forum is a clear indication of the GCC-EU deep historical relations, which are enhanced by a sincere desire to strengthen our joint cooperation, and develop our relations to serve our common interests.

The Secretary-General added that the GCC and the European Union have always stressed their keenness to strengthen their joint cooperation in political, economic and technical fields, Including; energy, industry, trade, investment, services, agriculture, fisheries, technology and environment, as well as education and scientific research. He pointed out that the two sides started the negotiations to reach a free trade agreement in 1990, and they agreed on almost all the terms, except export duties, expressing his hope that with our European friends we will be able to reach constructive formulas to serve our common interests.

Dr. Al-Zayani stated that the European Union was and will remain an important trading partner to the GCC; the trade exchange between the two sides has doubled over the past two decades, from $ 37 billion in 2001 to about $ 172billion in 2017, and with the cooperation of the private sector on both sides, we look forward to increasing it to higher levels in the future.

The Secretary-General stressed that the GCC seeks to create safe, stable and sustainable environments for achieving aspired prosperity through partnering with global economic blocs, unifying legislations, encouraging private sector contributions to development projects, upgrading procedures and administrative systems to streamline entrepreneurship, and promote creativity and innovation. He added that the GCC states, despite many local and regional challenges, had emerged as the most stable, prosperous, attractive countries for foreign investments in the region, especially as they maintain their position in global energy markets, and the adoption of ambitious national strategies and vision to diversify and boost national economies until 2030.

Dr. Al-Zayani said that the GCC has accomplished a lot to enhance its cooperation and integration, most notably; the Gulf common market, the Monetary Council, the Customs Union, the electrical Interconnection Authority, the Economic and Development Affairs Authority, and the economic judiciary Commission. As well as recently approving the GCC Payment Systems (GCCNET), and the GCC Secretariat is working to complete all regulatory requirements to establish an independent Gulf payment co. based in Riyadh. In addition to completing the GCC legislative system and the unified trade laws, in order to achieve the GCC economic unity by 2025. The GCC states are also working on finalizing the Customs Union and the Gulf Common Market legislations, and facilitate the movement of trucks among Member States.

The Secretary-General assured that the GCC states had witnessed in the past few years a significant growth in the flow of foreign direct investments as a result of the government reforms, initiatives and economic measures which shown an increasing interest of investors in the Gulf region. He pointed out that the GCC states have allocated huge budgets for strategic development projects, such as; road and rail projects, Power plants, desalination plants and renewable energy, which will witness an unprecedented investment Growth in Coming Years, while government spending continued on projects and vital sectors such as health, education and the oil and gas.

Dr. Al-Zayani stressed that the Gulf Cooperation Council has become an important economic bloc, pointing out that the GCC's gross domestic product has surpassed USD 1.5 trillion, the value of imports and exports exceeded USD one trillion annually and local investments rose to USD 430 billion in 2017. Moreover, the intra-GCC trade also jumped to USD 133 billion in 2017.

The Secretary-General said that the GCC states seek to establish a sustainable and diversified integrated economy based on activities with high added value, encourage investment, able to integrate into the global economy, and achieve the goals of sustainable development. He pointed out that the GCC believes that the private sector with its high efficiency, creative potentials, and sincere desire able to fulfill its constructive role in improving the level of cooperation with the European private sector, and further strengthening our relations.