Plans for a UK-Gulf Cooperation Council meeting in London this year have been put on hold, threatening UK plans for a quick free-trade deal with some of the richest economies in the world after Brexit.
Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May promised last year to host the first meeting of the GCC nations outside the Gulf in December as part of a symbolic show of the UK’s strengthening trade and security ties with the regional bloc, reported The Guardian. But sources said that the blockade against Qatar by three other Gulf states has put planning for the summit on hold.
Qatar has filed a legal action with the World Trade Organisation over an air, land and trade embargo imposed by other Gulf states in a legal dispute that could take years to resolve. The complete collapse of the GCC, which was formed in 1981, would complicate British efforts to set up free-trade deals to supplement the loss of EU trade post-Brexit.
In 2016, UK trade with GCC states stood at £30bn, higher than its exports to China and more than double those to India. The international trade secretary, Liam Fox, has hailed the Gulf as one of the areas in which British trade could be quickly expanded; he has identified 31 big-ticket items ranging from oil and gas to infrastructure, life sciences, the creative industries and defence.
