EU-GCC trade investment dialogue seen to restart FTA talks, says European Commission official

The trade investment dialogue between the EU and Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) slated in Brussels by the end of the year may open the possibility to restart EU-GCC free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations.Speaking at the Qatar Trade Summit 2021 Wednesday, Timo Hammaren, Deputy Head of Unit, DG Trade at European Commission, said the EU and GCC have been negotiating for a region-to-region FTA. He said the FTA “would no doubt, have brought great benefits for both parties.” However, these negotiations were put on hold in 2008, and in the past two years there have been informal talks of a possible resumption of these negotiations, Hammaren said.The EU does not have trade agreements with the US, China, India, Russia, and the GCC, which the EU now has “about €100bn” of annual trade, according to Hammaren, who described EU’s trade ties with GCC as “really important.”He noted that the new EU trade strategy released in February 2021 focuses increasingly on enforcement and implementation of existing trade agreements rather than negotiating new ones. “But that does not exclude negotiating FTA with a very important trade partner, such as the GCC if conditions are right,” he said.