EU/GCC: Press remarks by High Representative Josep Borrell after the EU-Gulf Cooperation Council summit

Check against delivery!

This was the first-ever summit of the leaders of the countries of the European Union and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). This Summit sends a powerful message to our citizens and to the world. The European Union and the Gulf Cooperation Council are ready to build a Strategic Partnership for the 21^st century. We want to work together to tackle today's challenges.

Today we took another important step to elevate our partnership to a new level. We had very good discussions on intensified cooperation in key areas of mutual interest: trade and investment, energy, climate, regional security, and people-to-people contact.

The discussion focused, among other things, on current geopolitical challenges - and obviously on the situation in the Middle East - that are destabilising our regions and undermining the international order and international law: Russia's illegal war in Ukraine and the widening conflict in the Middle East have been important topics in our discussions.

The joint statement [that] our leaders agreed today, is a significant milestone in our relations. It provides a new framework for enhancing our cooperation. Although we do not have the same positions on every issue, on many we see eye-to-eye and we agree.

In a joint effort we found common language on the most pressing issues of our cooperation. Let me say some words about them.

On trade and investment: the economic cooperation and trade relations are a centrepiece of our partnership. Here, there is a lot of untapped potential, there is a lot to do. This Summit reconfirmed the need to reinforce our existing cooperation on trade and investment between the two regions. We agreed to move ahead with negotiations on a Free Trade Agreement. And we should pursue all options to reinforce our economic cooperation and trade relations with all partners.

On people-to-people contacts: we discussed possibilities to bring our people closer together - this means cooperating more in areas like youth, education, sport, mobility and culture.

On energy and connectivity: these are critical issues; energy and climate change, they go hand in hand. Boosting our cooperation on these questions is good for both our regions. This is an essential part of our relations, as the Gulf countries are among the main global energy providers. We need to work together to ensure stable and reliable energy markets. This should go hand-in-hand with tackling climate change, biodiversity losses, and pollution.

On Ukraine: this is a vital priority for the European Union, because Russia is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and is openly disregarding and violating the United Nations Charter.

The consequences of the Russian aggression against Ukraine are felt around the world - the Russian attacks on grain vessels in the Black Sea are undermining global food security. Russia is also turning energy and fossil fuels to geopolitical weapons.

Although we all agree that the United Nations Charter must be respected, and that this is essential for global stability, I will not deny that there are some differences in how the European Union and the Gulf Cooperation Council's partners see this illegal war of aggression.

But in spite of these differences, we appreciate that many GCC partners have been very much engaged on this file, including by brokering exchanges of prisoners of war, and helping secure the return of Ukrainian children. We thanked the Gulf countries for engaging bilaterally with Ukraine and for participating in the 'Summit on Peace in Ukraine' and supporting the 'Peace Formula' process. I thank you for that.

On the Middle East; GCC countries are crucial partners for regional security. We commend their efforts to put a stop to the spiral of violence in the Middle East. In particular, the joint launch, in the margins of United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), last September, of a Global Alliance for the Implementation of the Two-State Solution, the only path to lasting peace, has been very much welcome. Our Summit today confirmed that our shared priority is an immediate and sustainable ceasefire, the release of hostages, and full humanitarian access to civilians in Gaza.

Same for Lebanon: the call for an immediate ceasefire and implementation the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, was widely supported during the summit. We also condemned firmly the attacks on United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

To conclude, this Summit opens a new - and more ambitious - chapter in our cooperation for a better future of both regions, that will bring concrete benefits for our citizens, for our societies and for our countries.

Thank you.

Q&A

Q. Mr. Borrell, you said in this final communiqué, you called on Iran to pursue regional de-escalation, but the sanctions you imposed on Iranian officials and Iranian companies, do you have any concerns that it could backfire? In the sense that you need Iran in the future to put some pressure on his allies - Hezbollah and Hamas - if you want a ceasefire in the future. This decision could bring about something opposite to what you hoped to achieve.

The sanctions have nothing to do with Hezbollah. The sanctions are related with Iran supplying arms to Russia against Ukraine.

Q. My question to Mr Borrell is about the Global coalition for the Implementation of the Two-states solution. Could you share with us your impression but also the idea you get in this room of today how this initiative is going to advance or if it is advancing already.

On the Global Alliance for the Implementation of the Two-State Solution, I have been explaining during the Summit that for the last years, the Arab world and the Europeans have been trying to work together and to look for a framework where we can put our efforts together in order to build the Two-State-Solution - well, in fact the Palestinian state, because the Israeli state had already been created. And today, the Summit has considered that this effort, this Global coalition is a good way of pushing for this solution, which is the only way of getting peace and security for both [parties].I think I can say that everybody around the table agreed on that; not a single voice was against it. Now we have to go into practice and this Global alliance - where most of the Europeans and most of the Arabs are sitting together - can be a way of working on it. There will be a meeting in Riyadh, and another in Brussels before the end of my term.

Link to the video: https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/en/video/I-262445

Public link

Please use the above public link if you want to share this noodl on another website.