The Gulf Cooperation Council and Japan announced on Sunday the resumption of Free Trade Agreement negotiations, by signing a joint statement on the sidelines of a meeting held by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and the Secretary General of the GCC, Jassem Mohamed Albudaiwi, in Jeddah.
Albudaiwi said the announcement comes in implementation of the directives of the Ministerial Council to ink free trade agreements with the trade partners of the GCC countries as part of the priorities that were agreed to accomplish at its session which took place in June 2022.
He added that Japan is considered as one of the priorities of the Council Cooperation with which it seeks to bolster strategic, economic, development and investment relations.
He expressed the hope of GCC member states to consolidate trade and investment ties between the two sides through this agreement, highlighting its role in launching a new era of partnership that is aimed at providing many opportunities for joint growth for the business communities of both sides, especially in priority sectors.
Moreover, Albudaiwi pointed out that the agreement will pave the way for the development of a comprehensive economic framework based on mutual interests, which, in return, would establish stronger strategic cooperation, promote innovation, stimulate economic growth, and create job opportunities for both sides.
He emphasized the strategic and important bonds between the GCC countries and Japan in all areas, most notably the high level of political coordination, as well as cooperation in the field of energy and trade exchange, indicating that Japan ranked fourth in terms of exports from Gulf countries with a value of $76.7 billion and ranked fourth in terms of imports from the GCC, which are valued at $22 billion.
