Riyadh Hosts Major EU-GCC Business Forum

A high-profile business forum, co-hosted by the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and 28-member European Union (EU), will be held in Riyadh Monday. 
Several GCC and EU officials will participate with the sole agenda to expand cooperation. Violeta Bulc, European Transport Commissioner, will lead the EU delegation in the business conference, Saudi daily (Arab News) reported. 
The GCC-EU business forum will feature speakers from the EU, the GCC and the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA). The focus will be on the most crucial areas for economic development like transport, infrastructure and sustainable urban development. 
"This forum is a continuation of the first EU-GCC Business Forum held in Brussels in May 2016," said a statement released by the EU delegation Sunday.
The statement said that the EU enjoys long-established relationships with GCC member states within the framework of the EU-GCC Cooperation Agreement that was endorsed in 1985. Trade volumes between the two regions have almost doubled during the past decade and stood at slightly more than 155 billion euros in 2015. 
The GCC countries together are the EU’s fourth largest export market, and the Kingdom alone is Europe’s 12th largest export market. The EU officials have been engaging with GCC officials to boost cooperation in different sectors.