EU-GCC Business Forum discuss ways to boost ties

Qatar Chamber (QC), the country’s oldest and largest private industry representative body, participated in the third EU-GCC Business Forum, which discussed opportunities and challenges in boosting the level of cooperation in business, trade and investment between the two regional blocks.

The EU member countries topped GCC trade partners, and their trade exchange between the two regions reached €143bn. And 25 percent of foreign investments in GCC are European.

The EU-GCC Business Forum was held from March 19-20 in Kuwait under the theme “An Oasis of Opportunities”. The Chamber’s delegation was headed by its Second Vice-Chairman Rashid bin Hamad Al Athba and included board members Ali bin Abdullatif Al Misnad and Dr Mohamed Johar Al Mohamed.

The chamber’s team held many meetings with many senior officials representing Gulf and European business sectors.

The Forum offered an excellent opportunity for partners from the GCC region and the EU to meet and explore new trade and investment partnerships between businesses in two of the world’s major economic regions.

The Forum opening session presented Kuwait Vision 2030, whereas the technical session discusses ways of developing the business environment and investment opportunities available for European companies in GCC countries to implement future development projects. It included presentations on health, digitization, innovation and entrepreneurship.

Addressing the opening ceremony, Chairman of Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industry Ali Al Ghanim said that Kuwait is honoured to host the third edition of the Forum, noting that the GCC and European regions have witnessed rapid and deep changes over the past three decades.

These challenges, he said, have propelled these regions to rethink the mindset and their mechanism with these developments.

On his part, the First Vice-Chairman of the Kuwait Chamber Abdul Wahab Al Wazzan praised the initiative of European Commission aiming at establishing GCC-EU Dialogue in economic diversification.

Source from: The Peninsula