Brussels, 18/04/2011 (Agence Europe) - EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Catherine Ashton will be in the Gulf region for three days. On Monday, she was in Saudi Arabia and, on Tuesday, she will be in Qatar. On Wednesday 20 April, she will jointly chair the 21st meeting of the EU-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Ministerial Meeting along with United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdallah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan. GCC Secretary General Abdullah bin Rashed Al-Zayyani will attend the meeting. Ashton will take the opportunity to make a short visit to Bahrain where the popular uprising has been held in check with the help of the five other GCC member states (see EUROPE 10358).
While in Saudi Arabia, she will meet a group of “influential women” in a kingdom where women's basic rights are still denied them. There has been a growing call for women's rights to be observed and for greater political openness. At the start of the year, the European Parliament said that democratic principles and fundamental rights had to be respected and called on the member states of the GCC immediately to tackle discrimination against women and child exploitation, especially in the labour market, and to fully implement the United Nations conventions on ending all forms of discrimination against women and on children's rights. The political situation in the region will be one of the main themes on the agenda, a political situation marked by the continuing “democratic revolutions” in several countries of the region - public demonstrations or strong pressure for institutional change - from which the Gulf region has not been spared and risks further disquiet. The Middle East and Iraq will also be discussed, and stock will be taken of all the economic aspects of the cooperation.
“My first official visit to the Gulf region comes at an important moment in our relationship with our Neighbourhood”, Ashton said. “It is vital to maintain close links to the Gulf states because we face many common challenges, and share many interests.” Among these shared interests, she lists putting momentum into the Middle East peace process, resolving the Iranian nuclear issue and discussing responses to the transitions in Egypt and Tunisia. “I believe my visit can lay the foundations for a close, frank and open political dialogue between the EU and the Gulf states on all these subjects and more”, she said, adding: “I also hope to gain a better insight into the political situation in these countries”. (F.B./transl.rt)