Europe hopes to restart dormant free trade talks with Gulf states, a European Commission vice-president said Tuesday.
“We would like to restart FTA negotiations with GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council),” Jyrki Katainen, who is in charge of jobs, growth, investment and competitiveness for the EU’s executive arm, said in an interview during a visit to the Saudi capital.
Free trade talks that began almost 30 years ago between the six-member GCC and the EU have been on hold for many years, the former Finnish prime minister said.
But things are different now with “political momentum” in favor of such negotiations, he said after talks with Saudi officials including the finance and commerce ministers.
Katainen arrived from similar meetings in the United Arab Emirates.
If free trade talks resumed “it would be a strong signal” to the world that the EU and the Gulf believe in open trade.
He said the need for the economies of both Europe and the Gulf to “modernise” is another factor boosting the prospects for a resumption of free trade talks.
In an interview with The National, an English-language daily published in Abu Dhabi, he said: “We are keen to ensure that Gulf companies are able to invest in Europe, through these projects or others, and also that European companies are able to invest in this part of the world. The GCC is our fourth largest export market, and we believe there is huge untapped potential for further trade links. This is why I am very pleased that in May this year, we are launching together the EU-GCC trade and investment dialogue.”
Asked why Arabian Gulf investors should put their money in the EU, a low growth region, Katainen said: “We are the largest Single Market in the world, with consistent and transparent rules and regulation, and we are continually working to strengthen this further.”
He also said the EU is the biggest export market for around 80 countries. “What we can offer investors is a stable and predictable environment for investment. We are the largest inward and outward investor and this will not change even after Brexit. We are determined to make the EU an even better place to invest. I am here to understand from our Gulf partners what they are looking for.”
