The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries have set their eyes on China for a trade agreement that will give them access to one-fifth of the world market, the Gulf News reported in Abu Dhabi Saturday.

Finance ministers and other senior officials from the Gulf group will fly to Beijing in late May to discuss a proposed trade and economic cooperation agreement similar to the one they signed with the European Union nearly six years ago.

The talks will be followed by another round of negotiations later this year to discuss details of the agreement, which was proposed by the GCC a few years ago.

An official from Kuwait reportedly said that the GCC countries have previously discussed the agreement with Chinese officials, but progress was delayed until after the establishment of the GCC Customs Union. They are now hopeful the talks will be more useful and constructive, although concluding the agreement is expected to take some time.

The GCC became a single trade and economic bloc with the establishment of the Customs Union on January 1, 2003, and it is now intensifying efforts to negotiate with other countries and economic blocs.

Analysts said that a pact with China would benefit both sides. Commercial exchange and investment between them have swelled in the past two years as a result of China's worldwide export offensive and a campaign by the GCC countries to find new markets for their petrochemicals, aluminum and other products.

From a negligible value of less than US$1 billion in mid-1980s, Sino-GCC trade jumped to more than US$12 billion in 2003, of which nearly half was Chinese exports, including electronics, toys, watches and machinery.

GCC states, which control more than 45 percent of the world's recoverable oil deposits, have also become the top crude suppliers to the most populous nation and the fastest growing market in the world.

China's reliance on Middle Eastern oil is likely to increase sharply as its own crude resources are being depleted quickly.

(Xinhua News Agency May 9, 2004)