By Nawab Khan, KUNA,
Brussels : EU Commissioner for external relations, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, said here Monday that progress has been made on the negotiations for a free trade agreement between the 27-member EU and the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “With our free trade negotiations I acknowledge the progress but at the same time we still have some questions that are open. “I think it is highly important to finalise the agreement,” she told a press conference in reply to KUNAs question.
Ferrero-Waldner described the EU-GCC Council to be held here later today as “an important meeting.” “There is a great interest on the side of the GCC countries , but also on our side to have a much closer cooperation in fields like energy, education, science and technology,” she said.
The Commisoner said she will be sending an experts’ mission to the Gulf countries to see exactly where we can start from because there are so many ideas around particularly to work in energy and climate change on the scientific side. She recalled that she discussed these issues during her recent visit to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain.
“These countries which are very important providers of petrol and gas now already look to the future. They want cooperation from us, so I think that is a very interesting offer,” added Ferrero-Waldner.