Seoul, March 6 (IANS) South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun has spoken by phone with his counterpart from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to discuss the Middle East conflict and coordinate efforts to bring home South Korean nationals stranded in the UAE, the foreign ministry said on Friday.During the phone talks Thursday with Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE’s foreign minister, Cho explained that some 3,000 short-term Korean travelers are seeking to return home from the UAE amid flight disrupti…
Latest Gulf Cooperation Council News & Updates
Riyadh, March 4 (IANS) External Affairs Minister (EAM) Subrahmanyam Jaishankar spoke by phone with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah on Wednesday. Their discussion focused on the worsening security situation in West Asia and its broader implications. According to an official statement released by the Saudi Press Agency and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, His Highness Prince Faisal bin Farhan received a phone call from the Indian Exter…
United Nations, March 3 (IANS) UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has carried out a round of diplomacy with leaders in the Gulf region as the world organisation expressed concern over the global economic fallout of the Iran war.The UN is “worried about the negative impacts that the military activities in the region as a whole could have on the world economy”, Guterres’ Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Monday.”And those impacts, as they often do, hit the most vulnerable the hardest…
Muscat, March 2 (IANS) India on Monday suffered its first casualty in the ongoing Iran conflict as an oil tanker was reportedly targetted in the Gulf of Oman, killing an Indian on board. “The Embassy of India expresses its deepest condolences on the tragic demise of an Indian national on board MKD Vyom. The Embassy is in close coordination with the local authorities in Oman to facilitate the safe and early repatriation of our nationals on board the vessel,” the Embassy of India in Oman posted on…
Mumbai, March 1 (IANS) Dubai’s real estate brokers and developers said on Sunday they expect the recent bull run in the country’s property sales to decline in the coming weeks due to the war between the United States, Israel and Iran.Brokers said the missile strikes targeting US bases in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries will dispel the long-held belief that Dubai is a safe place to park wealth during conflicts, which had drawn investors from Russia, Ukraine, Pakistan and Afghanistan af…
New Delhi, Feb 24 (IANS) The negotiations for the proposed free trade agreement between India and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) were formally launched here on Tuesday with the signing of a joint statement by Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and GCC Secretary General Jasem Mohamed Al-Budaiwi.”Amidst global uncertainties, it is most opportune that discussions are starting on negotiating a robust trading arrangement which would harness mutual synergies and complementarities,” Goyal …
New Delhi, Feb 19 (IANS) The decision by India and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to formally restart negotiations on a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) after nearly fifteen years represents a significant geoeconomic inflection point between India and the Gulf states, as the relationship is no longer only energy-driven with the focus on geoeconomic realignments having assumed greater importance, according to a report.The revival of these negotiations is not merely a trade event — it is a strategi…
New Delhi, Feb 5 (IANS) India and the Gulf Cooperation Council on Thursday signed the Terms of Reference to guide the negotiations for the India-GCC Free Trade Agreement (FTA) The Terms of Reference (ToR), which will define the scope and modalities of the talks, were signed between Additional Secretary and Chief Negotiator, Department of Commerce, Ajay Bhadoo, and the GCC Secretariat General’s Chief Negotiator, Dr Raja Al Marzouqi, at the Vanijya Bhawan in the presence of Commerce and Industry M…
New Delhi, Feb 5 (IANS) India is set to roll out the first tranche of its Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) with the United States in matter of days which will see a reduction in tariffs on domestic exports to 18 per cent, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Thursday.The minister said that a joint India–US statement is likely to be released in the next four to five days. Once an executive order is issued following the statement, the reduced 18 per cent US tariff on Indian goods w…
New Delhi, Jan 22 (IANS) Amid global uncertainties, the current state of the economy provides ground for optimism going forward and the GDP growth estimates for 2025-26 indicate that India will remain the fastest growing major economy in the world, according to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).India has made significant efforts to diversify and strengthen its exports, aiming to mitigate external sector risks.“The country is currently engaged in trade negotiations with 14 countries or groups, re…