Riyadh-Mubasher: Members of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) approved establishing a free trade zone with India.
Saudi Arabia’s Commerce and Industry Minister Tawfiq Al-Rabiah highlighted the deep-rooted relationship between the GCC countries and India.
“Our ties are based on trust, friendship, mutual interests and cultural and trade exchanges,” he said. “India has had a close connection with Arab and Islamic culture," he told the two-day 4th GCC-India Industrial Forum at the King Abdullah Economic City in Rabigh on Wednesday.
The volume of trade between the GCC states and India rose to $150 billion in 2014, with GCC exports to India standing at $95 billion and GCC imports from India reaching about $55 billion.
Al-Rabiah said trade between Saudi Arabia and India in 2014 stood at about $40 billion, with Saudi exports to India at over $33 billion, and its imports from India at nearly $7 billion.
