According to the UAE trade minister, the country is hopeful that trade negotiations will resume with the European Union (EU) by the end of 2024 and will be bilateral.
There is still no progress in the negotiations between the European Union and the Gulf Cooperation Council, an Arab bloc comprising Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Reuters stated in March 2024 that the UAE, frustrated by this, has subtly urged the EU to begin negotiations on a trade agreement apart from the GCC talks.
“We initiated the discussion, through both the GCC as well as bilaterally, and we’re getting the support from many of the EU members,” Minister of State for Foreign Trade, Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi said in an interview, as reported by the media agency.
Although he expressed optimism that the talks would be bilateral, he stated that both bilateral EU-UAE and EU-GCC discussions would be of “added value.”
The UAE, a powerful and wealthy Middle Eastern nation, has long pushed for increased EU participation in the Gulf area.
In 1990, trade negotiations between the EU and the energy-rich GCC began. If successful, these negotiations would have improved access for European Union companies to what is currently the EU’s sixth-largest export market. However, in 2008, the discussions were formally put on hold.
A more comprehensive agreement with the GCC might allow EU member states to accept investments from Gulf sovereign wealth funds, significant cross-sector investors with a long-term perspective.
However, the GCC hasn’t made many trading agreements. It began talks with Britain in 2022 and concluded an agreement with South Korea in 2023, sixteen years after they began.
Due to its strong ties to Moscow, Abu Dhabi has come under pressure from the United States, the European Union, and other Western allies to demonstrate that it is taking tough measures against companies that are trying to evade sanctions related to Russia.
According to Al Zeyoudi, the United Arab Emirates hopes to finalise a free trade zone agreement with Belarus and Russia’s Eurasian Economic Union before the year is out.
According to the minister, that won’t stop the UAE from trying to forge closer ties with the EU.
“We’re going to be always open and keen in expanding the relationship with anyone,” Al Zeyoudi said.