The News
The GCC is looking east and west for free trade agreements and foreign investments to drive non-oil revenue.
An inaugural summit of Southeast Asian countries, China, and the Gulf was held in Kuala Lumpur this week with the aim of bolstering economic ties against a backdrop of economic volatility and US tariffs: Chinese Premier Li Qiang said he hoped negotiations for a China-GCC Free Trade Agreement would “be concluded as early as possible.”
One of the biggest deals announced involved Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power signing a preliminary agreement to develop up to 12.5 gigawatts of renewable energy generating capacity in Malaysia by 2040, with an initial investment of up to $10 billion.
Meanwhile, the UAE formally opened free-trade negotiations with the EU, talks it’s hoping to conclude this year. Such deals are critical “given questions about the future of the current global trading system,” Firas Maksad, the managing director of Eurasia Group’s Middle East practice, told Semafor.