(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) As part of the EU-GCC Trade and Business Cooperation Facility project key government and business leaders from the GCC and Europe met in Riyadh for a roundtable discussion earlier this month.
Dubai: A comprehensive free trade agreement between the GCC and its top 10 trading partners including the European Union could result in substantial GDP increases.
Just a removal of tariffs and reduction of non-tariff barriers would result in estimated $64.4 billion addition to GDP of Arabian Gulf economies out of which $5 billion could arise from chemical exports alone.
As part of the EU-GCC Trade and Business Cooperation Facility project key government and business leaders from the GCC and Europe met in Riyadh for a roundtable discussion earlier this month. The meeting was chaired by Abdulrahim Naqi secretary-general of the Federation of GCC Chambers. Dr Abdulwahab Al Sadoun secretary-general of the Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association or GPCA represented the chemical industry the second-largest manufacturing industry in the GCC during the meeting.
“The GCC petrochemical industry has consistently exported around 80 per cent of its products in the last five years counting the EU has a major market after Asia” said Dr Al Sadoun. “A comprehensive free trade agreement with this key trading partner which would include the removal of customs tariff and associated non-tariff barriers will reduce operational costs for chemical exporters from the Arabian Gulf increasing returns up to $2.1 billion for producers.”
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.