EU "very encouraged" by positive reaction from GCC on EUآ’s strategy paper

BRUSSELS, May 20 (KUNA) -- The European Union Friday expressed its satisfaction over the positive response by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) on the EUآ’s Joint Communication on strategic partnership with the Gulf released in Brussels on Wednesday.
"We are very encouraged by the first welcoming reaction from our partners in the Gulf, especially from the Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (Dr. Nayef Al-Hajraf ) to this communication," EU lead spokesperson for foreign affairs and security policy, Peter Stano, told a press conference in Brussels today.
Replying to a question by the Kuwait news agency, KUNA, he said "the first-ever communication of the European Union for the countries of the Gulf was adopted this week and the idea is to offer a proposal to the EU and the GCC and member states on both sides areas of cooperation." He said the EU strategy paper on the Gulf is "about building a news strategic partnership due to a number of reasons, the current geopolitical context is only one of them but other reasons are that we are stronger together also with our partners." "Combined we are making twenty percent of the worldآ’s economy. Together we are making more than half of foreign direct investment globally. So there are reasons why closer and more strategic cooperation can be beneficial, not to talk about climate change, energy issues, green transition, etc," Stano explained.
A future summit meeting of the leaders of the two regional groups is something that "we are exploring," he said.
"There are already regular contacts at various levels," he said, and recalled the EU-GCC ministerial meeting held in Brussels end of February.
"So this is something that we are exploring to have it on the highest level. This is of course for the Presidents ( of EU and GCC) to decide," said the EU spokesperson.
"We hope that this really will be the stepping stone and the milestone for the EU and the GCC countries to develop close and strategic partnership so that we are bale to tackle the challenges that we are facing together more efficiently for the benefit of both the people in the EU and in the Gulf," he concluded.
The Joint Communication addresses a series of key policy areas, presenting concrete proposals for strengthened EU-GCC cooperation on energy, green transition and climate change, trade and economic diversification, regional stability and global security, humanitarian and development challenges, and closer people-to-people contacts.
The GCC, founded in the early 80s of the past century, groups Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE. (end) nk.rk