Manama: The Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) for Arab States, Dr. Naif Falah Mubarak Al-Hajraf, stressed the importance of advancing the areas of joint cooperation between the GCC and the European Union (EU) in order to serve common interests.

This came during a meeting Dr. Naif Al-Hajraf held today with the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen in the Bahraini capital, Manama, on the sidelines of "Manama Dialogue 2022" forum, which is being held November 18-20, with a wide participation of more than 400 participants from different countries through high-level representation of ministers, security officials, military leaders and academics, during the period.

During the meeting, a number of issues of common interest were reviewed, and GCC-EU relations were reviewed.

The file of free trade negotiations between the two sides was also reviewed, and the importance of inviting technical teams to review their developments, in order to serve common interests and strengthen trade and economic relations between the two parties.