RIYADH, 17 July — The European Commission will open a full-fledged representative office in Riyadh next year with the aim of boosting ties with the Gulf Cooperation Council states.
The office, which will be empowered to deal directly with any of the six Gulf states on behalf of the EU, will coordinate European positions on bilateral, regional and international issues.
Saudi Arabia will welcome the move to open a representative office, a sort of “European embassy,” said Franz Michils, Belgian ambassador, whose country has taken over the EU’s rotating presidency on July 1.
Michils said EC did not have a representative office in the Gulf mainly because of budgetary constraints.
A commission official based in Riyadh will represent all EU countries and will assist European envoys visiting the Gulf countries to meet with high-ranking local officials.
The office will also follow up technical work for political and economic talks between the two blocs, the envoy said. The GCC has emerged as the fifth largest trading partner of EU with the two-way trade amounting to $35 billion in 1999. The EU countries purchase 47 percent of its total oil requirements from the GCC countries.
Michils said the Gulf states would hold a weeklong cultural event in Brussels highlighting the history and heritage of the Gulf nations from Oct. 2.
He said commercial relations between Saudi Arabia and Belgium had been growing progressively. Riyadh and Brussels signed an investment protection agreement early this year, which would be implemented after formal ratification by the respective governments.
Total Saudi exports to Belgium last year exceeded $1.2 billion last year, including $200 million non-oil products. This represents 77 percent increase in Saudi non-oil exports to Belgium.
