Gulf Cooperation Council and potential GCC-UK Trade Agreement

9 TJM briefing - Gulf Cooperation Council and potential GCC-UK Trade Agreement 1 Background The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is a political and economic alliance established in 1981 between six member states in the Gulf: the Kingdom of Bahrain, the State of Kuwait, the Sultanate of Oman, the State of Qatar, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. [...] Refined oil is the top good imported into the UK from the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait whilst 40% of the UK’s imports liquefied natural gas come from Qatar.12 UK Export Finance funding supported the modernisation of an existing oil refinery in Bahrain, and similar projects in Kuwait and Oman.13 It is clear that the UK sees the Gulf region as a valuable source of investment. [...] The 2023 refresh of the Integrated Review reasserted that the UK wants to strengthen its relationships in the Gulf region as it is a ‘geopolitical hotspot’.18 A communique issued in December 2021 stated that the UK Foreign Secretary and GCC Foreign Ministers “welcomed the close cooperation between the UK and GCC member states on defence issues and agreed to continue building on existing links betw. [...] In addition, the GCC states have among the highest gender wage gaps in the world, according to the World Economic Forum’s 2022 rankings.36 Labour Rights The International Trade Union Confederation’s 2022 Global Rights Index identified the Middle East and North Africa as the worst region in the world for working people for the ninth year running.37 ALL GCC states were ranked as either 4 (systematic. [...] Trade-related freight emissions from UK exports are expected to increase by between 21% and 36%.42 Analysis by Politico in June 2022 comparing the predicted emissions increases in all the FTAs the UK has launched negotiations since Brexit found that the predicted increase as a result of a deal with the GCC was the highest.43 The macroeconomic modelling that predicted emissions intensity found that.