Brussels, 16/06/2010 (Agence Europe) - The joint EU-GCC (Gulf Corporation Council, consisting of Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Bahrain) held a meeting on Monday evening in Luxembourg. According to CatherineAshton this meeting facilitated an exchange of views on bilateral relations, which have been marked by persistent stalling in negotiations on a free trade agreement, as well as on the political situation in the region. The GCC's acting president, Mohammad Sabah Al Salim Al Sabah, the vice prime minister of Kuwait and the secretary general of the organisation, Abdulrahman Bin Hamad Al Attiyah, headed the GCC delegation. Catherine Ashton, the high representative for foreign affairs, led the EU delegation.
The main result obtained in the session, the 20th since 1988 was that the EU and GCC ministers adopted a common action programme. This is expected to provide a boost to the development of co-operation in all domains, including economic, financial and monetary cooperation, investment, trade, energy and the environment, transport, industrial development, telecommunications, technological training and scientific research. Action in the cultural arena is also planned.
In their joint declaration, they noted their shared determination to move forward and underlined that they had already begun on 2 June 2010 in Kuwait, a cooperation initiative in the field of renewable energy and energy efficiency. They jointly stressed their interest in pursuing cooperation in the nuclear power field, based on plant security. (F.B./transl.fl)