UK Trade Negotiations Agreement with the Gulf Cooperation Council

UK Trade Negotiations, Agreement with the Gulf

Cooperation Council

Mr Bandar Reda, ABCC Secretary General & CEO, was invited by the International Trade Committee of the House of Commons in Westminster to give oral evidence in its session on UK trade negotiations: Agreement with the Gulf Cooperation Council. The discussion took place online on Wednesday 12 January 2022 with Members of Parliament who sit on the committee posing a series of searching questions.

The purpose of the discussion was to gather expert evidence concerning the prospects of reaching a free trade agreement between the UK and the countries of the GCC. The evidence gathered will guide parliamentarians in their decisions when the matter comes to be debated before Parliament. The UK and GCC are entering into formal negotiations with a view to concluding a new Free Trade Agreement by the end of 2022.

Also giving evidence to the committee in this session were Dr David Roberts, Associate Professor at King’s College London and Dr Joseph A Kéchichian, Senior Fellow at King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies.

The detailed discussions concentrated on such issues as the prospects of achieving a multilateral trade agreement with all six GCC states versus a series of bilateral agreements.

In particular, the session considered how a future free trade agreement with the GCC might open up prospects for an increase in the flows of bilateral investment.

Mr Reda mentioned to the committee of MPs that he had met the secretary general of the GCC and its chief negotiator earlier in the year and found that an agreement with the UK was one of the GCC’s priorities.

A free trade agreement between the UK and GCC would enhance not only trade ties but would impact on the whole relationship, he observed. Certain areas might be difficult to reach agreement on such as e-commerce and digital trade as well as climate change and issues related to the environment.

There was a strong appetite for an agreement among the business community, Mr Reda noted, pointing out that the ABCC was in close and regular contact with all the local chambers of commerce which allowed it to assess business opinion on the issue.

“In my view,” Mr Reda told the committee, “There is an appetite to have a clear agreement, whether a bilateral agreement or a bloc, between the UK and the GCC, especially when it comes to business-to-business. It will facilitate different aspects and it will eliminate different barriers as well.”

A free trade agreement would open up new trade prospects for both goods and services, Mr Reda told the committee. “The free trade agreement will facilitate different points when it comes to terms and conditions, documentation, trading goods among those six countries; free goods transport among those countries, downstream investment opportunities, investment obstacles to be eliminated inwards to the UK and outwards from the UK to those countries. We could discuss so many different articles but, in general, I see goods and services are the main aspects being transported or exported from the UK to the six GCC countries,” he stated.

Mr Reda stressed the important role of the chief negotiator of the GCC who is empowered to speak for the bloc as a whole. The GCC was working towards an agreement that would be signed by all six countries, rather than looking towards reaching bilateral trade deals. This is because they had adopted a “straightforward target of agreeing all together on the main aspects for a trade agreement”, he said.

Mr Reda predicted an increase in investment in the wake of a free trade deal being concluded.

“We could see much more foreign investment or GCC investment coming into the UK if the terms and conditions are right,” he stated.

A full transcript of the 12 January discussion has been published by the House of Commons and can be found at:

https://committees.parliament. uk/committee/367/internationaltrade-committee/publications/