HE the Foreign Minister Dr Khalid bin Mohamed al-Attiyah chairing the 24th GCC-EU Joint Ministerial meeting in Doha yesterday, Below: The European Union delegation headed by Federica Mogherini, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission.
QNA/Doha
The 24th session of the Joint Council and Ministerial Meeting of the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) and the European Union (EU) was held in Doha yesterday.
The GCC delegation was led by HE Khalid bin Mohamed al-Attiyah, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Qatar, and the EU delegation was led by Federica Mogherini, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission.
The GCC Secretariat was represented by Dr Abdul Latif bin Rashed al-Zayani, GCC Secretary General.
GCC and EU ministers underlined the importance of further strengthening their ties for regional and international stability and security.
Both sides welcomed the enhancement of their political dialogue, notably through the holding of regular GCC-EU senior officials’ meetings, noting in particular the most recent one held in Brussels on 5 May.
The ministers exchanged views and identified common concerns and priorities with regard to the situation in the region, notably on Yemen, Iran, Libya, Syria, Iraq and the Middle East Peace Process.
They took note of the Riyadh Conference which was held on May 17-19, and agreed on the need to seek a solution to the Yemeni conflict on the basis of the UN Security Council Resolution 2216, the GCC initiative and the outcomes of the National Dialogue Conference.
The ministers also addressed global issues, in particular counter terrorism, and strongly condemned the heinous attack on worshippers in Qatif, Saudi Arabia, on May 22.
They underlined the strategic importance of the EU and the GCC to co-ordinate closely on these developments.
The ministers reviewed progress in the GCC-EU relationship and endorsed the meeting of the latest Joint Co-operation Committee held in Brussels on 4th May 2015.
The ministers expressed their determination to jointly address common political, social, economic, and security challenges. They noted with satisfaction that two-way trade represented more than 148bn Euro in 2014, a very significant increase from 100bn Euro recorded in 2010.
The ministers welcomed co-operation initiatives undertaken since the last ministerial meeting, notably through the GCC-EU dialogues on economy, air transport, energy, rail transport, trade (with a focus on sanitary and standardisation issues), as well as co-operation on economic diversification in the context of the upcoming 21st UNFCCC Conference of Parties to be held in Paris in December 2015.
The Ministers expressed their keenness to expand GCC-EU relations through increased people to people contacts, and further co-operation in the social, economic, educational, cultural and scientific fields, and human rights.
GCC and EU ministers agreed to hold their next meeting in the EU in 2016.
