Pakistan and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have agreed to cooperate closely in order to conclude Free Trade Agreement at the earliest.

This has been decided in the meeting between Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Secretary-General of the GCC Nayef bin Falah Al-Hajraf in a meeting held in Islamabad.

On Pakistan – GCC relations, the Foreign Minister and the Secretary-General expressed their desire to further strengthen cooperation to forge a comprehensive partnership, with a renewed focus on the promotion of bilateral trade and business relations, a handout issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

It is pertinent to note that Pakistan and GCC are negotiations for the last many years with regard to signing FTA. The last meeting of Pakistan and GCC representatives was held in April this year in Islamabad which decides to further expedite the progress on FTA.

The bilateral trade between Pakistan and GCC has been recorded $12070.75 million in 2019-20 which was $15422 million in 2018-19.

It is pertinent to note that GCC is a political and economic alliance of six Middle Eastern monarchies included Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. The aggregate nominal GDP of the Council is $1.6 trillion approximately whereas its total import market size is more than $ 500 billion.

Currently, GCC has FTAs with European Free Trade Association (EFTA Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland) and Singapore. GCC has completed FTA negotiations with Australia, and GCC FTA negotiations are underway with China, Malaysia, and Korea.

Source: Pro Pakistani