24/10/31
Q&A: EU-GCC eye alliance anchored in energy, security
Dubai, 31 October (Argus) — Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and the start
of the war in Gaza last year hastened the strengthening of relations between the
EU and the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) ꟷ something both blocs had long been
striving for. Argus sat down with the EU's special representative for the Gulf
region and former Italian foreign minister Luigi di Maio at the Future
Investment Initiative in Riyadh this week to discuss his hopes for the future of
the relationship. You spoke at the conference about a comprehensive EU-GCC trade
agreement. Such a thing has been on the table for a while without really moving
forward. Could the first ever EU-GCC summit two weeks ago in Brussels provide
the push needed for it to happen? The final statement of the summit clearly
emphasised the importance of finalising the negotiation in a positive way, and
reaching the free trade agreement at a regional level as soon as possible. Then
we can start tailor-made negotiations on trade and investments. This can work in
complementarity with the free trade agreement, for instance, on investments and
energy co-operation bilaterally. This doesn't mean we are going to kill the free
trade agreement at the regional level, but there are some sectorial
co-operations that we can implement. This is a very good starting point. I would
say the summit was ‘the message' because although our co-operation agreement
dates back to the late 1980s, it was the first ever summit. Of course, that also
testifies to the gap that we have to fill. This is why the EU approved the new
strategy and why there is a special representative to implement this strategy.
And why we are working with the Gulf countries to negotiate and implement [it]
as soon as possible. Riyadh is where we opened the first ever European Chamber
of Commerce in the GCC. The EU and Saudi Arabia are going to sign an energy
co-operation MoU by the end of the year. The text has been discussed, and now we
will work for the signature. What are the elements of this energy agreement with
Saudi Arabia? It is a new framework to co-operate, particularly, on renewables,
hydrogen, and technologies linked to renewables. This is very important, and
currently in the hands of the EU commissioner for energy, Kadri Simson, and
Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, the energy minister of Saudi Arabia. Speaking of
hydrogen, Prince Abdulaziz spoke here about Saudi Arabia being one of the
lowest-cost producers of hydrogen. We also know that hydrogen is a major element
of the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor [IMEC] agreement signed at the
G20 summit in New Delhi. Is the IMEC project still on the table? And is this
growing hydrogen relationship between the EU and the GCC part of it? First, the
lesson we, the EU, learned is diversification. So, it's very important to
implement our diversification policy on any kind of energy source. It is not
only linked to oil, gas or hydrogen, or in general, technologies, raw materials
and production. Then there is the issue of how much we can count on the
suppliers. The Gulf countries like Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and others have
always been reliable partners. This is why we see the energy co-operation as a
pillar of our partnership. On hydrogen, there is a mutual interest to meet our
ambitions. Our ambition, according to the European Commission's REPowerEU
proposal, is for the EU to produce 10mn t of hydrogen on its soil by 2030, and
import another 10 mn t. Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Oman are working with our
companies and member states to export hydrogen to Europe. And I think the
development of technologies and new projects around that will be at the core of
our future co-operation. If you look at Vision 2030, here in Saudi Arabia, but
even in the UAE and in the other countries, many of the goals are in line with
our REPowerEU, NextGenerationEU, or the European Green Deal proposals. So there
is momentum, and we are taking it. We are trying to fill the gap of the past.
And the very important thing, not only about hydrogen, but even about the
climate co-operation that is in our final statement [of the EU-GCC summit], is
that it's not an "Una tantum" [one-off] event. We are working to have the
ministerial foreign ministers' meeting in Kuwait next year and the next EU-GCC
summit in Saudi Arabia in 2026. We have a long road ahead to implement the
deliverables of the last summit, but also to improve our co-operation on
renewables. There was a significant breakthrough at Cop 28 with the mention of
fossil fuels in the final declaration. Do you see the growing EU-GCC
relationship as a leverage to push GCC countries on their climate agendas and
goals? The approach should not be that we push them on their climate agendas. We
are working together. And thanks to the multilateral relations, ambitions and
policies that we have, we can, even in view of Cop 29, co-ordinate in the same
way we did at Cop 28. This is very important, because thanks to their
influential foreign policy, on Africa, on central Asia, even sometimes on Latin
America, and our ambitions and partners around the world, we can merge our
relations to take another step forward on climate policy. But as you said, Cop
28 was historic, as consensus was the most ambitious result of the UN climate
Cops, and I think we have to continue on this path together. It is not a matter
of pushing someone. It's a matter of co-operation. Our level of partnership with
GCC has to switch at a strategic level. We want to create a strategic
partnership on peace and prosperity. This is our agreed ambition on both sides.
Speaking of peace and prosperity, Iran is involved indirectly in the
Russia-Ukraine conflict, and its direct confrontation with Israel leaves the GCC
sandwiched in the middle. How do you see the EU working with the GCC to attain
peace and prosperity, given the increased insecurity in the region? We share
with the GCC the interest of peace, prosperity and stability of the region.
Because if you look at these countries, what are they doing on Ukraine, like
returning children and prisoner exchanges… They are very active, and we
appreciate their efforts. So my perception is that the more we work with the GCC
on regional stability, the more we will achieve results, because we have a
common agenda. They will be very important for the future of the two-state
solution, but also for the stability of Lebanon. Even for conveying messages of
de-escalation to Iran. The channels with Iran have to be open… to convey
messages about nuclear, ballistic missiles, about weapons to Russia for use
against Ukraine, and the ‘Axis of Resistance' policy in the region, about the
Red Sea and the freedom of navigation. We have to use all the channels we have
and the channels the GCC have are precious because of the normalisation
processes in the region, just like the Iran-Saudi Arabia one. By Bachar Halabi
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