The Daily Star - Opinion Articles
"Europe and the Gulf must move beyond generalities
By Christian Koch
Commentary by
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
In the past two years, relations between the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and the European Union have moved forward at their fastest pace since the signing of the Cooperation Agreement in 1988. It wasn't always so. Tangible progress was scant before the agreement and it was only after the GCC Customs Union of 2003, the EU's December 2003 policy document on strengthening relations with the Arab world and its June 2004 announcement of a strategic partnership with Mediterranean and Middle Eastern states, that progress finally appeared to be in the cards. In late 2004 the EU opened a delegation office in Riyadh, and the Manama ministerial meeting last April indicated that the long-awaited GCC-EU free-trade agreement might finally be concluded by the end of this year - after a decade and a half of negotiations."
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