Member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are determined to forge the long overdue free trade agreement with the European Union (EU), said new GCC ambassador to the EU.
Hamad Al Amer, currently Foreign Ministry GCC affairs director, is the first Bahraini to be appointed as GCC Ambassador to the EU, since the post was created 12 years ago, reported the Gulf Daily News.
He is expected to take up his new assignment in Brussels, Belgium, in March next year, replacing outgoing GCC Ambassador to the EU Najeeb Al Rowais, an Omani national.
"We have a lot of trade problems and obstacles with the EU, which we need to work towards removing," Al Amer told the paper on Friday.
Despite the close political ties and mutual support in the political arena between the GCC-EU, economic ties have remained largely under-developed, to the disadvantage of the GCC.
"The most important issue for us, in the GCC, is to finalize the GCC-EU draft trade agreement," stressed the envoy.
"This has been under process for the last four or five years and it is high time it was finalized."
Forging the agreement will be top priority for Al Amer when he takes up his new assignment.
"It is imperative that GCC products get free and fair access to EU markets," he remarked.
EU products have been enjoying free access to the GCC, as a result of which the EU has enjoyed a trade surplus of $100 billion (BD37.8bn) in the past 12 years, since negotiations for the proposed agreement first began in 1988.
At the same time, EU investment in the GCC remains negligible, he said.
The EU is the primary trading partner of the GCC, while the GCC is the fifth largest export market for EU products – Albawaba.com
