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The first ever summit between the EU and the Gulf Cooperation Council is around the corner. On Wednesday, the leaders of the two blocs will convene in Brussels at the level of heads of state and government to give new momentum to the relations between Europe and the Gulf. This summit will send a powerful message to our citizens and the world: we are committed to developing a strategic partnership for the 21st century.
This summit will build on our joint efforts to strengthen the already dynamic and long-standing EU-GCC relations. The EU-Gulf strategic partnership adopted in 2022 expressed unequivocally that this region is of strategic importance to the EU and provides concrete proposals and action plans to further accelerate our collaboration across a wide range of areas. These include energy, climate change, trade and economic diversification, regional stability and global security, humanitarian and development challenges, and closer people-to-people contacts.
To reflect this new level of partnership, in May 2023 the EU appointed its first special representative for the Gulf, Luigi Di Maio.
We are now ready to go further in facing together the current challenges in the global arena.
The summit comes amid heightened tensions in the region, from Palestine to Sudan and from Lebanon to the Red Sea. It is an opportunity to restate our mutual commitment to joint solutions to our shared challenges and to shape a better tomorrow for our citizens.
This summit will build on our joint efforts to strengthen the already dynamic and long-standing EU-GCC relations
Christophe Farnaud
Our security is interconnected and interdependent. It is therefore of paramount importance to ensure strategic coordination between our regions. At the summit, we will explore enhancing cooperation on counterterrorism, maritime security, nonproliferation and cyber and hybrid threats, as well as responses to natural disasters.
This builds on long-standing security cooperation. A regional security dialogue was successfully launched in January in Riyadh, followed in April by a joint high-level forum on regional security in Luxembourg, in the presence of EU and GCC foreign ministers. Second editions of these platforms are planned for 2025.
The EU and the GCC have shared security interests. We both want to join efforts to prevent further military escalation and push for political solutions through diplomacy and dialogue. The summit will confirm our determination to do more for peace and stability in the region. In particular, the recent launch, in New York, of a global alliance to advance the two-state solution, together with Saudi Arabia and other partners, emphasizes our joint commitment to supporting a lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
We will also strive to coordinate better in the humanitarian field. The summit will be the occasion to develop our cooperation on disaster management and emergency response, in which both the EU and the GCC are major actors.
The summit will also seek to pave the way for a deeper cooperation in trade and investments. The EU is already a key economic partner of the Gulf, with a very robust bilateral trade in goods amounting to €170 billion ($185 billion) in 2023. Additionally, the EU’s outward investments in the GCC, which reached €215 billion in 2022, make it one of the largest investors in the region.
We both want to prevent further military escalation and push for political solutions through diplomacy and dialogue
Christophe Farnaud
The next EU-GCC business forum will be held in Doha next month. As a sign of support for the business communities in the Gulf, the first European Chamber of Commerce in the region was inaugurated in Riyadh in May. There is vast potential for economic cooperation and the EU is ready to contribute to the goals of economic diversification and transformation envisioned by the Gulf countries.
The EU remains committed to discussions on a regional EU-GCC free trade agreement. It is, in parallel, exploring further options to enhance bilateral trade and investment between EU and GCC countries.
The green and digital transition, sustainable energy, connectivity, education, research and innovation are also key areas for our future, to which the summit can give new impetus.
Importantly, people-to-people exchanges remain at the heart of our strategic partnership. To accelerate our exchanges, the EU adopted in April 2024 highly favorable visa rules for GCC nationals, who can now obtain five-year multiple-entry visas upon first application. The EU shares the interest of the Gulf countries to go further and we will continue to work toward visa-free arrangements between the Schengen area and all GCC member states.
Academic exchange programs, like Erasmus+, enable GCC students and researchers to study, work and live in Europe, bringing us closer together as people.
The EU-GCC summit will be a milestone in our relations. It is a great opportunity for both regions to come together, united by trust and shared interests, to shape a future that fosters peace, security and prosperity for us all.
- Christophe Farnaud is the EU Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Bahrain and Sultanate of Oman. X: @EUAmbGCC