EU-GCC Business Forum, fostering dialogue, boosting trade, investment
By Tareq Yousef AlShumaimry
Former Secretary-General of the Commercial Arbitration Centre of the Gulf Cooperation Council
European Union (EU) and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are set to mark a significant milestone in their strategic partnership with the 9th EU–GCC Business Forum, to be held at the Sheikh Abdullah Al Salem Cultural Centre in Kuwait City on 5–6 November. The event will bring together high-level officials, business leaders, and innovators to strengthen collaboration in trade, innovation, and investment.
Being held under the theme ‘Together for Shared Prosperity’, the Forum is organized as part of the wider ‘EU–GCC Dialogue on Economic Diversification’ project launched in 2018. The Dialogue on Economic Diversification has the objective of contributing to stronger EU-GCC relations by leveraging the experiences of the EU to support GCC states as they diversify their economies away from an overdependence on hydrocarbon revenues, and enhancing trade and investment flows between the two sides.
The Forum is hosted by Kuwait, which chairs the GCC presidency in 2025, and supported by the European Commission, GCC Secretariat General, Kuwaiti Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Kuwait Direct Investment Promotion Authority (KDIPA).
Rooted in the 1988 Cooperation Agreement and the 2022–2027 Joint Action Program, the Forum will push forward efforts to promote climate-friendly trade, investment, and economic affairs, and promote dialogue and cooperation between stakeholders from the EU and GCC at both regional and individual country levels.
The 1988 Cooperation Agreement between the two blocs established regular dialogues on trade and investment issues, macro-economic matters, climate change, energy, the environment, and research. Since signing the Agreement, the EU and GCC have witnessed a significant increase in trade and investment between the two sides.
In 2024, the EU was the GCC’s second-biggest trade partner, representing 11.7 percent of the GCC’s total trade in goods with the world, with GCC imports from the EU constituting 15.7 percent of the bloc’s total imports, making the EU the GCC’s number two import partner. The EU was also the GCC’s fourth-biggest export partner, as 7.9 percent of the region’s exports went to the EU.
Meanwhile, in 2024, the GCC remained the EU’s sixth-biggest trading partner, sixth-biggest export destination, and tenth biggest importer. EU-GCC total trade in goods in 2024 amounted to €161.7 billion, with EU’s imports from the GCC worth €62.3 billion. They were led by fuel and mining products (€47.0 billion, 75.4%) and base metals (€4.1 billion, 6.6%).
The EU’s exports to the Gulf region totalled €99.4 billion (+6.2%) and were dominated by machinery and appliances (€29.4 billion, 29.6%), chemicals (15.4 billion, 15.5%), transport equipment (€12.4 billion, 12.5%) and foodstuffs (€5.9 billion, 6.0%). Two-way trade in services between the EU and the GCC in 2023 amounted to €75.2 billion, with EU’s imports of services representing €25.2 billion and exports €49.9 billion.
In 2024, to further advance their cooperation, leaders of member states of the EU and GCC met in Brussels, Belgium for the first EU-GCC Summit in October. In a joint statement issued at the end of the summit, EU and GCC leaders stressed their desire to build a strategic partnership based on mutual respect and trust, for the benefit of people in the two regions and beyond.
Tareq Yousef AlShumaimry, served as Chairman of the Finance Committee and Chairman of the General Budget Committee of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague (PCA) and an observer in the Administrative Council of the Court and the Consular at International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the Embassy of the State of Kuwait in the Netherlands during this period from 2013 to 2020. Email: tareq@alshumaimry.com
