(May 18): The UK and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states are close to finalising a long-sought free trade deal after years of negotiations, the Financial Times (FT) reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
The UK has been negotiating with the GCC states — which includes Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman — since 2022 for a free trade deal. One of the people told the FT that an agreement-in-principle would be reached within days and that GCC secretary general Jasem AlBudaiwi is expected to be in London this week.
A British official told the paper that the negotiations were at an advanced stage, and a spokesperson for the government said the talks are ongoing and is a priority. Last week, Bahrain mistakenly announced on social media that the GCC and UK had completed its negotiations before deleting the tweet, the report said.
The UK government estimates that the trade deal could increase gross domestic product (GDP) by between £1.6 billion and £3.1 billion a year by 2036, equivalent to an increase in long-term UK GDP of between 0.06% and 0.11%, according to the report. Current bilateral trade between the Gulf bloc and the UK exceeds US$53 billion.
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