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The UAE’s trade minister said on Monday the country hopes to resume trade talks with the European Union by the end of the year and is optimistic the negotiations will be bilateral.
Negotiations between the EU and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), a six-nation Arab coalition that includes the UAE and Saudi Arabia, remain stalled, with the UAE calling on the EU to begin negotiating a trade deal separately from the GCC talks, Reuters reported in March.
“We have started discussions both through the GCC and bilaterally and have the support of many EU member states,” Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi told Reuters in an interview.
He said bilateral talks between the EU and the GCC, or between the EU and the UAE, would both be “added value”, but added that he was optimistic the talks would be bilateral.
Strengthening cooperation with the EU
The UAE has long been advocating greater EU engagement in the Gulf region.
The EU and the energy-rich GCC states began trade talks in 1990 that, if concluded, would have given EU companies better access to China, now the EU’s sixth-largest export market, but the talks were formally suspended in 2008.
A broader agreement with the GCC could open up further investment into EU member states from Gulf sovereign wealth funds, large cross-sector investors with multi-decade perspectives.
But the GCC has only signed a handful of trade deals: a deal with South Korea was signed last year, 16 years after negotiations began, and negotiations with the UK are underway in 2022.
Al Zeyoudi said the UAE plans to sign a free trade zone agreement with the Eurasian Economic Union, which also includes Russia and Belarus, by the end of the year.
The minister said he did not believe it would affect the UAE’s efforts to pursue closer ties with the EU.
“We are always open and eager to expand our relationships with anyone,” he said.
Read: GCC Secretary General says new UK government will conclude FTA by end of 2024