New UK government to finalise FTA by end of 2024, says GCC secretary-general

Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) secretary-general Jasem Mohamed Al Budaiwi met with UK’s new Secretary of State for Business and Trade Jonathan Reynolds, on Wednesday, to take forward the ongoing free-trade agreement (FTA) talks.

Al Budaiwi’s London meet comes a week after the UK elected a new Labour government.

Following the meet, the GCC secretary-general confirmed a mutual commitment between the two sides to conclude FTA negotiations by the end of this year.

GCC-UK FTA talks

Al Budaiwi highlighted a strong interest from the new British government and a genuine desire to wrap up FTA negotiation rounds. Reynolds affirmed the UK’s intention to sign the agreement before the end of 2024, as per a report by the Saudi Press Agency (SPA).

The meeting between Al Budaiwi and Reynolds covered various topics, with a particular focus on enhancing economic and trade relations, between the GCC and the UK. The GCC is composed of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

Both parties aim to speed up the FTA negotiations, planning regular meetings between senior officials to finalise the agreement’s chapters and secure its signing within the year. This step is seen as crucial in bolstering cooperation and strengthening the strategic partnership between the GCC and the UK.

The two sides had held the sixth round of talks earlier this year with technical discussions held across 21 policy areas over 30 sessions.

Trade

The GCC countries represent the UK’s seventh-largest export destination, with bilateral trade hitting a high of GBP61.3bn($78.29bn), in 2022. Discussions during the meeting underscored the importance of enhancing bilateral trade relations between the GCC and the UK.

In 2020 alone, the UK exported goods and services worth GBP23.1bn($25bn) to the GCC, accounting for 71 percent of the UK’s total trade with the region.

Former UK trade minister Kemi Badenoch, during her 2023 visit to the Gulf countries, had referred to the potential FTA as “groundbreaking,” suggesting it could “set a precedent for what the GCC does with the rest of the world.”

The GCC other such initiatives include the establishment of an FTA with South Korea in December 2023 and the resumption of FTA negotiations with Japan, which were first proposed in 2006. The fresh FTA talks with Japan were formalised during Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s 2023 state visit to Saudi Arabia.

Read: UK trade secretary Kemi Badenoch rounds off Gulf trip with visit to the UAE