Qatar chamber urges return to EU free trade talks

Qatar Chamber vice chairman Mohamed bin Twar recently spoke before 200 participants of a networking session involving Qatari and European Union (EU) business people. Qatar Chamber hopes to pursue free trade agreement talks with the EU.
 
“I’d like to seize this opportunity to express that Qatar Chamber hopes to resume talks on the EU-GCC free trade agreement, which has been suspended in 2008,” Bin Twar said in his statement. “Indeed, there is a real desire and keenness in the GCC to find common bases that will help resume these negotiations for the benefits of EU and GCC economies.”
 
EU member states present at the event included Spain, Portugal, Romania, Germany, Bulgaria, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Greece, Austria, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Sweden, the Czech Republic, and the UK.
 
“The EU is the number one trading partner for Qatar. The GCC, as a whole, is our fourth export market and Qatar is the third largest economy for the EU in the GCC after Saudi Arabia and the UAE. In terms of import, Qatar is almost similar to the UAE,” Lucie Berger, head of Trade Delegation of EU to the GCC, said.