Seoul: Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi underlined that the signing of a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the GCC countries and South Korea was an important step towards achieving Gulf economic integration and strengthening economic and trade relations between the two sides.
The GCC Secretary-General and South Korea's Trade Minister Ahn Duk-geun signed the joint declaration on the conclusion of the bilateral Free Trade Agreement between the GCC and Korea in Seoul on Thursday.
The GCC Secretary-General said that FTAs aim to strengthen the economic relations of the GCC with other countries and international blocs to achieve common commercial and investment interests. The signing came as an accumulation of negotiations that continued over five rounds, reflecting the real common desire to strengthen strategic partnership and economic cooperation between the two sides.
He pointed out that the agreement is expected to contribute to increasing bilateral trade volume, expanding trade in goods and services between the parties, and promoting economic diversification plans in both the GCC and South Korea.
Albudaiwi stated that the agreement includes 18 chapters, covering trade in goods, services, government purchases, digital trade, cooperation in the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) sector, customs procedures, intellectual property, and other topics of mutual interest.
This is the second FTA signed by the GCC with its global trading partners in 2023. A similar agreement was announced earlier in September with Pakistan.
