ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Caretaker Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani met the Gulf Cooperation Council’s (GCC) Secretary-General Jassem Mohamed Albudaiwi on Saturday to discuss free trade agreement negotiations between the two sides, calling for its “early conclusion,” Pakistan’s foreign office said. 

Pakistan and the six-member GCC bloc signed a framework agreement to discuss the free trade agreement in August 2004 but only a few rounds of negotiations took place in subsequent years. However, the GCC and Pakistan resumed the conversation in 2021 after a significantly long period.

Last year, both sides held technical-level talks to examine the possibility of signing the free trade agreement that could help Pakistan boost its exports to the six-country bloc, which includes Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, and Kuwait. 

In March this year, a delegation of senior Pakistani diplomats met top GCC officials in Riyadh to discuss the agreement’s modalities. 

“The Foreign Minister expressed satisfaction on the progress made in the negotiations on Pakistan-GCC Free Trade Agreement and reiterated the need for its early conclusion,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) said, adding that the two representatives met at the sideline of the 78th UN General Assembly in New York.

MoFA said Albudaiwi agreed to “cooperate closely” to conclude the Pakistan-GCC free trade agreement at the earliest.

The statement added that Jilani expressed Pakistan’s desire to strengthen institutional linkages with the GCC and its member states 

“He underscored that Pakistan would be ready to host a GCC Foreign Ministers’ Conference in Islamabad as proposed during the 1st meeting of the Political Dialogue held in March this year,” MoFA added. 

Jilani said Pakistan viewed the GCC as an important player in the region that could play a vital role in expanding the South Asian country’s political and economic ties with the Gulf states. 

“Both agreed to further strengthening cooperation to forge a comprehensive partnership, with renewed focus on promotion of bilateral trade and business relations,” the statement added. 

Pakistan has been facing a severe economic crisis that has seen its foreign exchange reserves fall to critically low levels while its national currency has weakened considerably against the US dollar over the past one year. 

While the country secured a last-gasp $3 billion deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in June, Pakistan still needs to increase its exports as it grapples with an acute balance of payments crisis. 

Currently, Pakistan has free trade agreements with China, Malaysia, and Sri Lanka, though it also wants to export more to other trade destinations.