Dear Prime Minister, Your Highness,
Dear Secretary-General,
Dear Director-General,
Ladies and gentlemen.
It is a pleasure to be a part of the ninth edition of the EU-GCC Business Forum.
And I am very happy to be here in Kuwait, which is doing such a wonderful job of hosting us.
Kuwait is a key economic hub in the region, and an important trading partner for the EU, with overall trade in goods last year worth nearly 13 billion euros.
The EU, meanwhile, stands as Kuwaits second largest trading partner.
I have had a very fruitful day here, meeting with ministers and officials from around the region.
While enjoying these exchanges, as well as the warmth and the sunshine of Kuwait, it might be easy to forget the storm clouds which are gathering over the global economy.
We are seeing first hand how the increasing uncertainty in world trade is having a very real effect on the ground.
In such volatile times, it is crucial to cooperate closely with your partners to weather the storm.
We are doing so intensely when it comes to trade – for example, in recent months we successfully concluded our trade and investment negotiations with Indonesia, while I have also engaged extensively with other ASEAN partners, India, Viet Nam, and New Zealand.
And the European Union of course also remains committed to working with the Gulf Cooperation Council and the whole region, to explore how we can strengthen our trade and investment relations.
This can be within both regional and bilateral frameworks, as laid out at the first EU-GCC Summit a year ago.
As we said then, we share a common goal to promote growth and ensure prosperity for our citizens.
That means creating the right conditions for our businesses to thrive.
As you will be aware, we are in talks with the GCC about working on a regional Free Trade Agreement.
While at the same time, we are seeking closer ties with individual countries – I am referring here of course to our negotiations with the United Arab Emirates.
I want to assure you all that we are strongly committed to the regional track, and our bilateral talks in no way detract from this.
In fact, a bilateral FTA can act as a building block for a regional agreement.
We are intent on working towards an ambitious, balanced, and commercially meaningful trade and investment relationship with the GCC countries.
But we must ensure that a substantial, mutually beneficial FTA is a realistic possibility before we can dig down into the negotiations.
I look forward to continuing exchanging with my partners here in the region to make further progress, and working with the GCC to reach an accepted level of ambition.
In addition, we are about to offer to all six GCC countries the possibility of bilateral negotiations with the EU on so-called Strategic Partnership Agreements.
These will include a non-preferential trade chapter for those countries which at this stage do not wish to enter into bilateral FTA talks with the EU.
In the meantime, this forum provides a valuable opportunity for business-to-business contact.
It is always a pleasure to speak directly with you – the business community – as the engines of trade, innovation and investment.
I want to reassure you that your calls for closer economic collaboration are being heard, and are what we are pursuing.
In todays unpredictable global economy, trade relationships are not just economic tools – they are strategic assets.
They signal trust, alignment, and resilience.
I know you have already been exchanging today on partnership in key areas such as digitalisation, innovation, and artificial intelligence.
And you will continue tomorrow, looking at areas like SMEs and skills development, and new avenues for cooperation, including tourism, healthcare, education, and creative industries.
This sort of interaction between those who feel the effects of trade policy most keenly, remains very important.
An event such as this provides the perfect opportunity to discuss common challenges, and possible solutions.
Both within the business community, and together with colleagues in government.
The Gulf remains a strategically vital partner for Europe, and forging strong, reliable partnerships here is a priority for the EU.
Especially in a world where geopolitical and economic uncertainty is on the rise.
So we want to give business here fresh momentum to engage with a dynamic, fast-growing Gulf economy in a more open, business-friendly and predictable environment.
Whilst remaining a reliable, transparent, and fair partner for the region.
That includes by listening to your concerns, such as on the EUs sustainability measures.
I want to finish by underlining that the EU and the GCC are natural economic partners. We enjoyed 170 billion euros in trade in 2023.
We are actively working together to advance resilient value chains, including in energy and in areas such as clean technologies and critical raw materials.
And we will continue to seek to progress our joint trade, to the benefit of people and businesses on both sides.
I wish you fruitful discussions for the rest of the forum.
Thank you.
