H.E. Dr. Majed bin Abdullah Al-Kassabi, Minister of Commerce and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the General Authority for Foreign Trade, chaired today, the 70^th meeting of the Commercial Cooperation Committee of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), held virtually, with the participation pf H.E. Mr. Jasem bin Mohamed Albudaiwi, Secretary-General of the GCC, and Their Excellencies Minister of Commerce from the GCC member states.

The meeting reviewed the latest developments in free trade agreement negotiations with countries and international blocs, followed up on the implementation of unified GCC commercial laws, and discussed the proposal for a GCC Virtual Business Incubator, in addition to monitoring the work of committees under the ministerial committee.

Their Excellencies also reviewed the Secretariat General’s report on the implementation of previous committee decisions, the annual report of the Commercial Arbitration Center for 2025, measures taken by the Assistant Secretariat for Economic and Development Affairs in light of current developments, and updates on addressing intra-GCC trade challenges, as well as following up on the decisions of the Supreme Council.

Al-Kassabi also participated in the joint meeting of GCC Ministers of Commerce with H.E. Sir Chris Bryant, UK Minister for Trade, the 11^th meeting of the Ministerial Committee for Standardization Affairs, and the consultative meeting between GCC Ministers of Commerce and Industry and the heads of federations and chambers across GCC countries.

It is worth mentioning that the trade volume between the Kingdom and GCC counties reached approximately SAR 270 billion in 2025 (according to preliminary data). Over the past five years, the Kingdom’s trade volume recorded an increase of 125%, while its exports reached approximately SAR 188 billion, reflecting a growth of 163% during the same period.