China and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have ended their third round of talks on the establishment of a free trade area (FTA), the Ministry of Commerce said in Beijing on Thursday.

During the two-day talks in Beijing, the two sides exchanged views on customs checking procedures, technological trade barriers, quarantine measures and the text of an FTA agreement, and announced they made progress in these areas.

GCC is a regional economic organization with the six member states of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.

China and the GCC are negotiating on building a free trade area. The two sides expect to sign an agreement by the end of 2006, the ministry said.

From 1999 to 2005, bilateral trade volume grew at an average annual rate of over 40 percent. In 2005, the trade volume hit US$33.8 billion, up 36 percent year on year. China's exports to GCC grew 32 percent to US$13.8 billion in 2005, and its imports from GCC rose 40 percent to US$20 billion.

By the end of 2005, China had projects in the GCC worth US$6.6 billion, and GCC's investments in China totaled US$1.04 billion.

(Xinhua News Agency January 20, 2006)