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Malaysia continues GCC trade talks that began in 2011

By Pramod Kumar
Malaysian prime minister Anwar Ibrahim meets a Bahraini delegation. The country signed a Cepa with the UAE in January Anwar Ibrahim/X
Malaysian prime minister Anwar Ibrahim meets a Bahraini delegation. The country signed a Cepa with the UAE in January

Malaysian prime minister Anwar Ibrahim has said that talks on closing a free trade agreement (FTA) with the Gulf Cooperation Council are continuing, 14 years after they first began.

The deal will deepen commercial partnerships and expand economic growth, Kuwait’s state-run Kuna news agency reported, quoting Ibrahim.

The GCC and Malaysia agreed on a trade framework in 2006 aimed at boosting commercial, investment and technical cooperation, the report said.

Official talks on the FTA started in 2011. However, no final resolution has been reached.

Last August, minister of investment, trade and industry Tengku Zarful Abdul Aziz said Kuala Lumpur aims to strike an FTA with the six GCC member bloc – which includes Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman – to strengthen trade relations.

This January the UAE and Malaysia signed a comprehensive economic partnership agreement (Cepa) that is expected to be a catalyst for a 60 percent increase in trade between the two nations over the next five years.

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