GOIC initiates 3rd GCC-EU Forum

His Excellency Dr. Mohamed Saleh Al Sada, Minister of State for Energy and Industry Affairs, is set to open on event on the 3rd July in Barcelona, Spain.

The main objective of the Forum is to promote industrial cooperation as well as subcontracting & partnership activities between GCC and the European Union. The Forum will specifically focus on meeting the objective of marketing GCC subcontracting capabilities and promoting technology transfer and joint venture interests from the EU region.

It is scheduled that the Forum will be held once every year interchangeably between GCC and the EU under the patronage of VIPs from each region. Private companies from both regions will also be invited to consider the opportunities for industrial cooperation, such as technology transfer, joint ventures, further to subcontracting and partnership exchange.

The meeting will focus on prospects and opportunities for industrial development and economic relationships, and will explore ways and means of promoting industry and fostering economic cooperation aimed at bridging the gap and paving the way for building strong relationship ties between the two regions.

The activities of the forum will last for two days and include bilateral meetings, presentations, discussions and sessions of business meetings; where the private sector companies present their project interests, subcontracting capabilities and major companies demand of manufacturing supplies. On their part, major companies, i.e., main contractors, will be sharing inquires, including specifications, values and quantities. Through meetings, arrangements occur for matchmaking between businesses from both regions such as joint ventures and subcontracting, or both. Efforts will be gathered to arrange for matchmaking between private companies in the area of investment, industrial supplies and partnerships.

It is worth mentioning that GCC member states have strong trade relationships with the European Union. Trade between the two regions constituted 18% of the total trade between GCC member states and other countries of the world in 2006; thus making the EU the first commercial partner of GCC member states.

In addition, the volume of exports from GCC member states to the European Union reached more than Euro36.4bn in 2006, while imports from the European Union in the same year were about Euro45bn. Trade operations between the two regions are concentrated in the sectors of equipment and energy.

The volume of EU exports to GCC member states in the equipment sector alone was more than Euro21.8bn in 2006; while GCC member states has exported energy to the EU which amounted to Euro26.2bn.