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  1. Negotiations

GCC


The Gulf Cooperation Council (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, with Yemen hoping to join by 2016) is dealing head-on with bilateral free trade agreements at various levels. On the one hand, it has gone through a lot of tension as its member countries have been drawn into individual bilateral treaties with foreign powers like the United States, including with a major row between Saudi Arabia and Bahrain when Bahrain signed with Washington. On the other hand, it has been working as a group to establish FTAs with others, including Australia, China, Mercosur, Japan, Jordan, Korea, Turkey, New Zealand, India, Iran, ASEAN and the European Union. It signed an FTA with Syria in 2005, and more recently with Singapore (2008) and EFTA (2009).

last update: May 2012
photo: US Department of State/Wikimedia Commons

Crisis pushed GCC to slow down Turkey FTA talks
26-Dec-2010    
The global economic crisis of 2009 was a major reason behind Turkey’s stalled Free Trade Agreement (FTA) talks with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which began in 2005, Foreign Trade Undersecretariat officials have said.
Turkey should lobby Saudi Arabia for GCC ties
11-Dec-2010    
I followed the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit held in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) capital, last week and had a chance to see firsthand how the leaders of oil-rich Gulf Arab countries conducted the meeting against the backdrop of the challenges facing the Middle East.
Jordan seeks Saudi support for free trade agreement with GCC states
29-Sep-2010     Zawya
Jordan will ask Saudi Arabia to intervene with the Secretariat of the Gulf Cooperation Council to help it sign an agreement on economic cooperation and free trade with GCC member states.
GCC countries postpone customs union move
11-Sep-2010    
The Gulf Cooperation Council, a political and economic union involving the six Arab states, has decided to shelve its proposed customs union by at least two years after the modalities for the distribution of revenues and the mechanism of collection were not finalised.
GCC to do away with border curbs on goods
30-Aug-2010    
The latest push to eliminate obstacles could help the Gulf Cooperation Council Customs Union ease transportation of goods and services across the region from next year.
GCC close to meeting monetary union plan
17-Jun-2010    
At the end of 2009, all GCC countries, with the exception of UAE and Oman which disengaged from the plan, were within the fiscal convergence criteria needed for the regional monetary union, the Washington-based Institute of International Finance (IIF) said.
Business council supports Jordan’s aspirations for free trade with GCC
17-Jun-2010    
The Saudi Jordanian Businessmen Council supported Jordan’s request for a free trade agreement with Gulf states, according to the council’s Chairman Mohammad Al Audah.
GCC Chief Says FTA Talks With South Korea Making Significant Progress
8-Jun-2010    
The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and South Korea have taken big strides toward concluding free trade negotiations, although there are some remaining issues to be resolved, Yonhap News Agency reported the council's visiting secretary general as saying Monday.
Malaysia can become a gateway for Emirati investors, Deputy Governor Bank Negara Malaysia
26-Apr-2010    
Dato' Mohd Razif Deputy Governor of Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) said that Malaysia has ample investment opportunities in various fields and can become a gateway for Emirati investors to access Asian Markets, expressing his resolve to open joint ventures between Malaysia and United Arab Emirates to enhance economic and trade ties between them.
GCC, ASEAN eye new trade bloc based on food, oil
1-Jul-2009     Reuters
Gulf Arab states and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) moved toward building a trade bloc based on food and oil at a joint meeting of foreign ministers on Tuesday.