The Hindu Business Line : India, Gulf council sign pact for economic cooperation

The Minister for Commerce and Industry, Mr Kamal Nath, flanked by Sheikh Mohammed Al-Salem Al-Sabah, Foreign Minister of the State of Kuwait (left), and Mr Abdulrahman Bin Hamad Al- Attiyah, Secretary General, GCC, during a meeting on economic cooperation between India and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in the Capital on Wednesday. Kamal Narang

New Delhi , Aug. 25

INDIA and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have signed a framework agreement on economic cooperation that would give a fillip to existing commercial and economic ties between the two sides.

The Commerce and Industry Minister, Mr Kamal Nath, and the visiting Foreign Minister of Kuwait, Dr Mohammed Al-Sabbah Al-Salem Al-Sabbah, on behalf of GCC, signed the agreement here on Wednesday. Kuwait is the current Chairman of the six-nation GCC, comprising Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Mr E.V.K.S. Elangovan, Minister of State for Commerce and Industry; Mr Abdulrahman bin Hamad Al Attiyah, Secretary General of the GCC; and the ambassadors of Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the Consul-General of Bahrain were among those present on the occasion.

The Secretary-General of GCC hoped that the agreement would pave the way for initiation of discussions on the feasibility of a free trade agreement (FTA) between the two sides.

"The agreement would act as a catalyst in our efforts to achieve closer commercial, economic and political relationship," Mr Kamal Nath said.

The Commerce Minister said that although the country's exports had grown by 43 per cent in 2003-04 to about $7 billion and imports (excluding oil) from GCC had risen by 72 per cent to $3.5 billion, the existing trade was not commensurate with the potential.

He held that the agreement would enable both sides exploit opportunities to the maximum.

The Commerce Minister also said that the agreement would provide a framework for private sector on both sides to enter into profitable ventures in new areas.

Besides paving the way for initiation of discussions on feasibility of FTA, the agreement provides for setting up of a joint committee on economic cooperation to oversee the implementation of the pact and other bilateral agreements.

Both sides will also make arrangements for setting up of joint investment projects and facilitating corporate investments in various fields.

It was also held that individual member-states of GCC were, notwithstanding the framework agreement on economic cooperation, permitted to undertake bilateral activities with India in the fields covered by the agreement.

The GCC Chairman, Dr Al-Sabbah, told reporters here that their members had increased the crude production to highest level and that the speculators outside their region are driving the prices.