China, Gulf resume free trade talks

Decision reflects importance regional bloc attaches to Beijing, commerce minister says

China and the Gulf Cooperation Council have resumed negotiations on a free trade agreement and will conclude the pact this year, both sides said on Jan 20.

Observers hailed the move, which will open an extremely rich market for China, as a "breakthrough" during the visit by President Xi Jinping to the Middle East.

Xi arrived in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, on Jan 19 to start the first visit to the country by a Chinese head of state in seven years. He will also visit Egypt and Iran.

News of the breakthrough came after the president met with the council's secretary-general, Abdul Latif bin Rashid Al Zayani, in Riyadh.

Xi told Zayani that China is willing to be a long-term, stable and reliable energy market for the bloc. Zayani said all council members expect to raise the bloc's ties with China to the level of "special strategic partnership".

Chinese Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng said on Jan 20 that the FTA talks had restarted while the council's talks with another 16 countries remain frozen, reflecting the importance the regional bloc attaches to Beijing. "We believe this is an important move for the council to further strengthen its strategic partnership with China, and also a key decision to further improve China's comprehensive cooperation with the council," he said.

Li Guofu, head of the China Institute of International Studies' Middle East department, says the agreement, once signed, will open up to China a market of six rich countries that mainly rely on imports.

The Gulf Cooperation Council is a political and economic union of six Gulf Arab states - Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. "Chinese goods will be very competitive there, and will be transferred to neighboring regions through the bloc," Li says.

Li Shaoxian, a senior expert in Middle East studies at Ningxia University in northwestern China, said, "I expected President Xi's visit to push forward the FTA talks, but I didn't dare to hope they would restart immediately ... It's a big surprise."

A news release issued by the Ministry of Commerce and the council secretariat on Jan 20 said the Chinese government and the council had "resumed negotiations on Jan 16 and substantively concluded in principle the negotiations on trade in goods on Jan 19".

China and the council have decided to "accelerate the pace of negotiations" and hold the next round in the second half of February. They will also "conclude a comprehensive FTA within 2016", the release added.

Contact the writers through xingzhigang@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily European Weekly 01/22/2016 page2)