GCC announces free trade agreement with South Korea

The Gulf Co-operation Council has signed a free trade deal with South Korea, the bloc’s second such agreement in the past three months.

The deal, signed on Thursday, includes trade in goods and services, government procurement, digital trade, customs procedures and intellectual property.

It is expected to boost the volume of bilateral trade and help to diversify the economies of the countries. The agreement is a “historic step towards achieving Gulf economic integration and towards strengthening economic and trade relations between the two sides”, GCC Secretary General Jasem Al Budaiwi said.

“The signing of free trade agreements with both Pakistan and South Korea, within a period of three months … takes into account the wonderful economic position that the GCC countries have reached,” he added.

The GCC is also in talks with Britain for a free trade deal, with authorities saying last month that the move was making “good progress”.

Members of the GCC have signed new trade and economic deals around the world.

The UAE, the Arab world’s second-largest economy, said in March it aims to sign 26 Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreements to help attract more investment.

On Thursday, the UAE and the Republic of the Congo concluded the terms of a Cepa to boost trade and build stronger ties between the countries.

After it is ratified, the deal will reduce or eliminate tariffs and remove other trade barriers, bolster market entry and establish frameworks for investment and collaboration.

The Emirates is pursuing agreements to achieve a target of Dh4 trillion ($1.09 trillion) in non-oil foreign trade by 2031, as part of its diversification plans. The country also aims to double the size of its economy by 2030.

As 2023 draws to a close, we find the traditional system of co-operation between nations, often called multilateralism, is thriving again. Evidence of the past few weeks alone shows how it is not quite as obsolete as some observers have claimed in recent years. At Cop28, for example, 198 parties agreed on a way forward for further reducing harmful carbon emissions which included – for the first time – a transition away from fossil fuels that may yet save the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.

The EU has also set out the first set of rules on the use of artificial intelligence, a moment which will prove to be historic as the era of AI accelerates. Equally, the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine have shown the limits of multilateralism. An end to either of those wars is no closer and the mechanisms built into the UN seem ill-equipped to stop the spilling of the blood of the innocent. We must use every opportunity to refine and reform multilateralist institutions to meet the most difficult challenges we face.

It is less than a month until the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, which has been a champion of multilateralism for more than half a century.

The event is yearly accused of being little more than a talking shop or an echo chamber for the elite. It is worth, however, flipping such criticism on its head in order to understand why it still matters a great deal in terms of fostering more effective co-operation.

The annual meeting’s secret sauce is being able to physically bring together government and business leaders, billionaires, scientists, experts, grass roots campaigners, journalists, film stars and athletes for a few days in snowy, freezing January and put them all on an equal intellectual footing.

Barriers – social, economic and political – come down and profound discussions can happen between the most unlikely individuals, bridging differences and changing minds. Outside of the conference venue, the Swiss mountain town typically hosts more than 10,000 people who choose this week to connect with clients, investors and the media, providing gravitas and inspiration.

The cold weather and the security, not to mention the walking on icy treacherous streets, adds an element of difficulty to daily life that also helps to reduce egos.

Many of the most critical issues of our time, including resolving conflict, improving access to economic opportunity, climate change and how best to manage a fractured system of global trade, dominate much of the conversations being had.

As a result, Davos is increasingly a rare thing: a time and place when actual discourse can occur. It is impossible to overestimate how important it is to have as many such opportunities as possible in this polarised economic and political landscape.

Back in the early 1970s when Prof Klaus Schwab founded the World Economic Forum, this was the very spirit he was seeking to instil amid the height of the Cold War. Since then the world has been re-ordered several times.

The World Economic Forum has in recent years been one of a dwindling group of institutions championing the benefits of globalisation, capitalism and multilateralism, while also using the convening power of its annual meeting in Davos to attempt to manifest better versions of all of these concepts.

The Forum has offered a platform to as broad a collection of voices as possible, inviting the personification of populism, for example, Donald Trump to the gathering in 2018. The following year Greta Thunberg was invited to the meeting where she added momentum for the youth-led climate activism that had exploded into our consciousness the summer before. These were two perspectives on how our futures needed to be shaped that were in direct opposition to each other, yet somehow could coexist without needing to extinguish the oxygen of the other. This doesn’t regularly occur on social media sites yet Davos makes this happen time and again.

It is worth flipping criticism of Davos on its head to understand why it still matters in terms of fostering co-operation

Similarly, Chinese officials will often attend the meeting regardless of the state of geopolitical tensions with other world powers. It is reported Beijing will, next month, send its most significant delegation to Davos in more than five years. The US is always represented by senior administration officials, past and present. There is then the chance of better understanding between the two largest economies.

Recently, the presence in Davos of rapidly developing economies like the UAE and Saudi Arabia has become more pronounced. The Gulf countries have charted a path to prosperity even as they face some of the most daunting challenges. They offer an exciting example for Europe and the US, as the region takes on greater responsibility for leading the energy transition. The Gulf’s youthful populations expect to achieve high standards of living and well-being. Actors such as the UAE are the new standard bearers for multilateralism and they will help ensure it can continue to be an effective pathway for increased understanding.