10-05-04

Gulf Arab oil monarchies will sign a landmark economic cooperation agreement with China to boost trade relations and pave the way towards a free trade accord, says the head of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Finance ministers of the six-nation alliance will visit Beijing to sign the agreement.

"We pin great hopes on this agreement to open negotiations for further deals and finally strike a free trade accord. China is a huge promising market," said GCC secretary general Abdulrahman Attiya.

The framework deal is expected to accelerate trade ties between China, which is looking for secure oil supplies for its fast growing economy, and the GCC nations. The Beijing visit was confirmed at a GCC finance ministers meeting held in Kuwait, said Adnan Khudair, director of Gulf and Arab Economic Cooperation at Kuwait's finance ministry.

The GCC states have taken a number of key economic integration measures, including the launching in January last year of a customs union that enabled the alliance to open trade negotiations as a single bloc with the rest of the world.

The GCC, which groups Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), are also taking measures to set up a monetary union in 2005, a common market by 2007 and a single currency by the start of 2010.

China is the fourth largest trading partner with GCC nations after the European Union, Japan and the United States.

Source: Agence France Presse