On Tuesday 20 February, Kuwait's ambassador in Brussels, Jasem Al-Budaiwi, announced that the EU and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC – Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates) were on the point of resuming their negotiations on a free trade agreement. The talks began in 1990 and have still not come to an end.
"Actually, we are now initiating starting negotiations", the ambassador told EUROPE at a conference organised by euraffex and KDIPA (Kuwait Direct Investment Promotion Authority). He also said that European officials have expressed interest in the EU resuming discussions on this agreement under Kuwait's current leadership of the GCC.
Back in October, the deputy secretary general of the GCC, Abdel Aziz Aluwaisheg, had said the contentious point of the negotiations remained the thorny issue of export rights, on which the EU and some GCC members are said to have different requirements (see EUROPE 11887).
Kuwait's ambassador wanted 2018 to be the year of full implementation of the administrative cooperation agreement between the EU and his country (see EUROPE 11598). The two parties still need to formulate their vision of how to apply this agreement. "We give them our vision; we are waiting for them to do it. We hope this year will be the one where we can really implement this bilateral agreement", Al-Budaiwi stated. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant with Emmanuel Hagry)