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GCC Minister Discuss Free Trade Agreement with China

Virtual meeting of the GCC Financial and Economic Cooperation Committee (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Virtual meeting of the GCC Financial and Economic Cooperation Committee (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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GCC Minister Discuss Free Trade Agreement with China

Virtual meeting of the GCC Financial and Economic Cooperation Committee (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Virtual meeting of the GCC Financial and Economic Cooperation Committee (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Members of the Financial and Economic Cooperation Committee and the Trade Cooperation Committee of the GCC countries discussed the final report on the technical status of the free trade agreement negotiations between the GCC and China.

The meeting completes the vision of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz regarding enhancing joint action.

The virtual joint meeting was headed by the Omani Finance Minister Sultan bin Salim al-Habsi, who is also the Chairman of the current session, and included Saudi Finance Minister Mohammed al-Jadaan, Commerce Minister Majid al-Qasabi, the Ministers and Deputy Ministers of Commerce, Finance, and Economy of the GCC countries, and the GCC Secretary General.

During the meeting, the ministers reviewed many issues related to enhancing financial and economic cooperation between the GCC countries.

The committee was briefed on the recommendations of the undersecretaries' committee and the developments followed up by the General Secretariat.

Jadaan touched on the Saudi efforts to enhance joint Gulf action during its presidency of the previous session, stressing the Kingdom's support for Oman in its presidency of the current session.

He pointed out the need to double efforts to complete the remaining steps to implement the vision of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques regarding promoting joint Gulf action in a way that meets the aspirations of the Gulf leaders.

Members of the Financial and Economic Cooperation Committee and the Trade Cooperation Committee reviewed the steps to establish the customs union before the end of 2024, according to the timetable approved by the committee.

They also followed up on completing the full implementation of the Gulf Common Market, according to the action plan for the period 2022-2024, in the performance of the decision of the 43rd GCC Supreme Council.

Concerning the final report on the technical status of the negotiations of the free trade agreement between the GCC and China, the officials reviewed different points of view in preparation for submitting them to the Ministerial Council regarding the powers of the negotiating team and its mechanisms.

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Honda and Nissan Start Merger Talks in Historic Pivot

Makoto Uchida, Director, Representative Executive Officer, President and CEO of Nissan Motor Corporation, Toshihiro Mibe, Director, President and Representative Executive Officer of Honda and Takao Kato, Director, Representative Executive Officer, President & CEO of Mitsubishi Motors, attend a joint press conference on their merger talks, in Tokyo, Japan, December 23, 2024. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon
Makoto Uchida, Director, Representative Executive Officer, President and CEO of Nissan Motor Corporation, Toshihiro Mibe, Director, President and Representative Executive Officer of Honda and Takao Kato, Director, Representative Executive Officer, President & CEO of Mitsubishi Motors, attend a joint press conference on their merger talks, in Tokyo, Japan, December 23, 2024. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon
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Honda and Nissan Start Merger Talks in Historic Pivot

Makoto Uchida, Director, Representative Executive Officer, President and CEO of Nissan Motor Corporation, Toshihiro Mibe, Director, President and Representative Executive Officer of Honda and Takao Kato, Director, Representative Executive Officer, President & CEO of Mitsubishi Motors, attend a joint press conference on their merger talks, in Tokyo, Japan, December 23, 2024. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon
Makoto Uchida, Director, Representative Executive Officer, President and CEO of Nissan Motor Corporation, Toshihiro Mibe, Director, President and Representative Executive Officer of Honda and Takao Kato, Director, Representative Executive Officer, President & CEO of Mitsubishi Motors, attend a joint press conference on their merger talks, in Tokyo, Japan, December 23, 2024. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

Honda and Nissan have started talks toward a potential merger, they said on Monday, a historic pivot for Japan's auto industry that underlines the threat Chinese EV makers now pose to some of the world's best known car makers, Reuters said.
The integration would create the world's third-largest auto group by vehicle sales after Toyota and Volkswagen. It would also give the two companies scale and a chance to share resources in the face of intense competition from Tesla and more nimble Chinese rivals, such as BYD.
The merger of the two storied Japanese brands - Honda is Japan's second-largest automaker and Nissan its no. 3 - would mark the biggest reshaping in the global auto industry since Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and PSA merged in 2021 to create Stellantis in a $52 billion deal.
Smaller Mitsubishi Motors, in which Nissan is top shareholder, was also considering joining, the companies said. The chief executives of all three companies held a joint press conference in Tokyo.
"The rise of Chinese automakers and new players has changed the car industry quite a lot," Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe told the press conference.
"We have to build up capabilities to fight with them by 2030, otherwise we'll be beaten," he said.
The two companies would aim for combined sales of 30 trillion yen ($191 billion) and operating profit of more than 3 trillion yen through the potential merger, they said.
They aimed to wrap up talks around June 2025 and then set up a holding company by August 2026, at which time both companies' shares would be delisted.
Honda has a market capitalisation of more than $40 billion, while Nissan is valued at about $10 billion.
Honda will appoint the majority of the holding company's board, it said.
Combining with Mitsubishi Motors would take the Japanese group's global sales to more than 8 million cars. The current No. 3 group is South Korea's Hyundai and Kia .
Honda and Nissan have been exploring ways to bolster their partnership, including a merger, Reuters reported last week.
The two companies said in March they were considering cooperation on electrification and software development. They agreed to conduct joint research and widened the collaboration to Mitsubishi Motors in August.
Last month, Nissan announced a plan to cut 9,000 jobs and 20% of its global production capacity after sales plunged in the key China and U.S. markets. Honda also reported worse-than-expected earnings due to declining sales in China.
Like other foreign carmakers, Honda and Nissan have lost ground in the world's biggest market China to BYD and other local brands that make electric and hybrid cars loaded with innovative software.
In a separate online press conference with the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan on Monday, former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn said he did not believe the Honda-Nissan alliance would be successful, saying the two automakers were not complementary.
Ghosn is wanted as a fugitive in Japan for jumping bail and fleeing to Lebanon. His 2018 arrest for financial wrongdoing pitched Nissan into a crisis.
French automaker Renault, Nissan's largest shareholder, is open in principle to a deal and would examine all the implications of a tie-up, sources have said.
Taiwan's Foxconn, seeking to expand its nascent EV contract manufacturing business, approached Nissan about a bid but the Japanese company rejected it, sources have told Reuters.
Foxconn decided to pause the approach after it sent a delegation to meet with Renault in France, Bloomberg News reported on Friday.
Shares in Honda ended the day up 3.8%, Nissan rose 1.6% and Mitsubishi Motors gained 5.3% after the news reports on the details of the planned merger, while the benchmark Nikkei closed up 1.2%.