EU High Representative / Vice President of the Commission Josep Borrell met with the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) currently chaired by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which was represented by Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan al Saud. The GCC Secretary General Dr. Nayef Falah Al-Hajraf in New York today. The meeting was also attended by Sheikh Dr. Ahmad Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah, Foreign Minister of Kuwait; Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Qatar; Dr Mohamed Al-Hassan, Permanent Representative of the Sultanate of Oman to the United Nations; Sheikh Abdullah bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for Political Affairs of the Kingdom of Bahrain; and Khalifa Shaheen Al Marar, Minister of State, Foreign Affairs & International Cooperation of UAE.

This meeting takes place annually in the margins of the UN General Assembly to underline the importance of the EU-GCC relations.

High Representative Borrell and his GCC counterparts welcomed the renewed dynamics in EU-GCC relations, noting the first visit of the President of the European Council to the region in the last week. This follows the recent presentation of the new EU strategy for the region – “A strategic partnership with the Gulf” – which sets out a blueprint for a more strategic and comprehensive partnership between the EU and the GCC and its Member States.

To further advance the close cooperation and strengthen ties between the European Union and the countries of the GCC, the High Representative informed his counterparts of his decision to appoint a Special Representative for the Gulf.

The meeting today allowed for detailed discussions on how to strengthen EU-GCC cooperation across a range of areas such as energy and climate change, notably in view of the climate conference COP27, people-to-people contacts, closer and more effective co-operation in providing humanitarian and development assistance, as well as strengthened co-operation on security and regional issues. A particular focus of the discussions were the ongoing negotiations on the JCPOA with Iran, and issues related to Gulf security.  Partners also discussed the crisis in Yemen and expressed support for the efforts of UN Special Envoy Hans Grundberg.

The GCC and the EU agreed on the importance of effective non-proliferation for regional and global security.