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29 March 2024

GCC, Germany to talk investment ahead of FTA

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By Staff

Hundreds of officials and businessmen from the Gulf and Germany will meet in October to discuss investment and trade as the oil exporting region inches closer to singing a landmark free trade deal with the Europeans.

The October 26 conference in Stuttgart will also include an exhibition that will attract more than 500 companies from the six-nation Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) seeking to show their products and present investment opportunities.
 
The Dammam-based Federation of GCC Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FGCCI) is organising the forum, which it said would seek to build stronger relations between the private sectors in the two sides.
 
“The forum is aimed at creating stronger economic and trade ties between the private sector in the two sides and to discuss investment opportunities in both regions,” said FGCCI secretary-general Abdul Rahim Naqi.
 
“Germany will benefit from this meeting because it expects its relationship with the GCC to surpass that of mere trade partnership after the signing of the free trade agreement (FTA) between the GCC and the European Union…this agreement will open new scopes for Germany to export its technology and investments to the Gulf region,” he said in a statement sent to Emirates 24|7.
 
His figures showed the GCC countries have become among the largest markets for Germany’s products, with its exports to the region exceeding $14 billion in 2009. GCC’s exports to Germany stood at around $six billion.
 
“This forum is very important because it comes amidst efforts by the GCC to expand its relations with the EU in economy, trade, investment and other fields…it also follows a severe financial crisis that has hit Greece and spilled into other European nations…the forum will cover this crisis and its impact on commercial exchange between the EU and the GCC,” Naqi said.