Will the 'Middle East Core' GCC Market Open... 5th FTA Negotiations Held

5th Korea-GCC FTA Negotiation Held... Discussions on Energy Cooperation
Negotiations Suspended in GCC in 2010... Agreement to Resume Talks Last Year
GCC Accounts for 75% of Middle East Trade... 70% of Korea's Crude Oil Imports

President Yoon Suk-yeol is shaking hands with Ambassador Abdullah Sultan Al-Samahi, Charg? d'Affaires of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to Korea (first on the left), before meeting with Gulf Cooperation Council ambassadors at the Presidential Transition Committee set up at the Financial Supervisory Service Training Institute in Tongui-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, on the afternoon of April 1. Photo by Transition Committee Press Corps

[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Lee Jun-hyung] The 5th round of negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between South Korea and the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries will be held. This comes three months after the 4th round of talks in April.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced that the 5th round of FTA negotiations between South Korea and the six GCC countries will take place from the 6th to the 9th in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The GCC is a cooperative organization of six Middle Eastern countries including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kuwait, and Qatar. Signing an FTA with the GCC effectively means establishing FTAs with all six member countries.

The chief negotiator for South Korea is Lee Kyung-sik, FTA Negotiator at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. In addition, a government delegation composed of related ministries such as the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, and the Financial Services Commission will participate in the negotiations. The chief negotiator for the GCC side is Abdullah Al Harbi, Head of Negotiations at the GCC Secretariat.

Previously, the government agreed to pursue an FTA with the GCC in 2007. From 2008 to the following year, three rounds of FTA negotiations were held, but the GCC declared a suspension of negotiations in January 2010 citing policy review. This is why there had been little progress for 15 years since the agreement to pursue an FTA with the GCC.

However, South Korea and the GCC agreed to resume FTA negotiations in January this year. This consensus to accelerate FTA negotiations within the GCC was formed following the GCC six countries’ Ministers of Commerce meeting at the end of 2020. The government agreed to officially restart FTA negotiations during former President Moon Jae-in’s visit to Saudi Arabia in January and held FTA talks in March for the first time in 13 years.

President Moon Jae-in greeting Nayef Al Hajraf, Secretary-General of the GCC
(Riyadh=Yonhap News) Reporter Seo Myeongon = President Moon Jae-in, on an official visit to Saudi Arabia, is greeting Nayef Al Hajraf, Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), at the Riyadh Guesthouse on January 19 (local time), 2022.1.19
Photo by Seo Myeongon
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During the 4th round of FTA negotiations held in March, the government and the GCC discussed areas of mutual interest. In the 5th round, the government plans to negotiate on goods, services, investment, and trade technical barriers (TBT). The government also intends to focus on expanding domestic companies’ entry into the construction and plant markets and establishing cooperation frameworks in energy and information and communication technology (ICT) sectors during this round.

The government’s expectations for the Korea-GCC FTA are significant. GCC member countries account for about 75% of South Korea’s trade volume with the entire Middle East. This indicates the substantial ripple effect that expanding trade with GCC member countries could bring. The fact that GCC member countries are high-income countries with an average GDP of $24,000 also raises expectations.

It will also strengthen the energy supply chain, as the GCC is rich in energy resources such as oil. About 70% of the crude oil imported by South Korea comes from the GCC.

The negotiator said, "In the 5th round, we will closely proceed with negotiations in all areas including goods and services and establish an economic cooperation framework between South Korea and the GCC. We will communicate sufficiently with stakeholders throughout the negotiation process and actively reflect the opinions of related industries."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.