Brussels, 22/01/2003 (Agence Europe) - The Join Co-operation Committee (Gulf Co-operation Council: Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar) will be holding talks in Brussels on 28 January. It will attempt to draw up a report on the plans of the of the six countries Foreign Affairs Ministers, as well as those of the EU, who will be meeting in March in Doha (Qatar) as part of the Joint Co-operation Council, a body set up as part of the June 1998 agreement singed by the two groups. The twelfth and most recent session took place in Grenada in February 2002.
A traditional agenda of items is on the table: political dialogue, economic co-operation, monetary - covering areas of investment and enterprise co-operation. Issues linked to the energy market are raised indirectly at each meeting by way of an examination of the economic health of the two regions. The two groups will continue their negotiations in parallel for the conclusion of a second agreement based on reciprocal free trade. A new negotiating session is planned in the backdrop to the Ministerial meeting in Doha. Substantial progress has already been achieved. For two years he European Commission and the Secretariat General of the GCC have been involved in re-launching these negotiations which had been marking time due to the build of trade complaints voiced by both sides, with the GCC countries convinced that the EU has remained resolutely protectionist (aluminium, fishing products, oil derived products etc.). The two negotiating teams particularly strove to clarify the situation. Different technical seminars have been regularly organised to do this, with one of them focusing on the use of the Euro in trade relations held at the beginning of 2002.
During this phase the European Commission was awaiting the developments initiated within the group of six countries in the GCC in view of their economic and monetary integration, which ended up with the setting up of a common customs tariff, which has been operational since January 2003 and which Brussels had introduced as a condition for the conclusion of a reciprocal free trade agreement, just as it had requested the accession of all GCC countries to the WTO. Saudi Arabia is the only country that is still not a member but current negotiations could go down this road.
Joint sessions are also an opportunity for the two groups to discuss cultural and especially political aspects of their relations: internal developments - (during the last session in Grenada, the EU welcomed the coming of representative democracy); external developments: Middle East, Iraq, Iran etc.
The prospect of an exchange of views on this subject is planned for the end of January and next March at a Ministerial level but given the current and particular context in the region, it is not being ruled out the Ministerial session in Doha could take place in the context of a war. It will therefore provide a body in which direct EU/GCC post-conflict talks could be held. Some of the likely themes to emerge in such a context: the role of the Gulf countries in a possible post-Sadam Iraq. According to a source close to the GCC, enhanced co-operation with this country is envisaged between "brother countries", which according to the source was the case during the war with Iran. But there is not question of a transformed Iraq joining the GCC, which will remain above all a "club of oil monarchies" rich and wrapped up in themselves as illustrated by the polite refusal to the Yemen, which wanted to join. The poor neighbour will, nevertheless, be associated in a variety of economic and cultural programmes (youth, sport, etc.).
The GCC already enjoys diplomatic representation in Brussels and last December gave the go-ahead for the opening of a European Commission delegation in Riyadh.