Directorate-General for Trade

Gulf region

For more information on EU – Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) relations, see the Commission's External Relations page

Since 2003, EU policymakers have been sharing their experience of economic unification with policymakers from the Gulf, which is undergoing a similar process.

Topics have included common trade policy, fiscal aspects of a single currency and moving from customs union to a single market.

EU exports to GCC

Diverse but focused on machinery and transport materials, for example power generation plants, railway locomotives and aircraft as well as electrical machinery and mechanical appliances.

EU imports from GCC

Mainly fuels and derivatives (70% of total EU imports from the region in 2006).

All six GCC countries currently benefit from preferential access to the EU market under the EU's Generalised System of Preferences (GSP).

EU-GCC free trade agreement

Negotiations were relaunched in 2002 with a new, wider mandate that includes trade in services and investment.

The agreement would provide for progressive and reciprocal liberalisation of trade in goods and services, aiming to ensure a comparable level of market access opportunities, taking account of GCC countries' level of development.

Negotiations cover:

• Market access for goods and services
• Common rules and disciplines for intellectual property rights
• Competition
• Dispute settlement
• Rules of origin
• Human rights
• Illegal immigration
• Terrorism

The EU-GCC agreement has been subject to a public sustainability impact assessment.

EC-GCC cooperation agreement

The framework for economic and political cooperation is the 1989 EU-GCC cooperation agreement. The agreement seeks to improve trade relations and stability in a strategic part of Europe's wider neighbourhood.

The agreement created a Joint Council (meeting annually) and working groups on industrial cooperation, energy and the environment.