Intra-GCC Trade Reaches $1.5tn in 2024, Ranks Sixth Globally
GCC trade ministry undersecretaries meeting highlights regional economic resilience and diversification.
Trade among Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states reached $1.5 trillion in 2024, ranking sixth globally and representing 3.2 percent of world trade.
According to Khalid Ali Al-Sunaidi, the assistant secretary-general for economic and development affairs at the GCC General Secretariat, this achievement underscores the GCC's position as a financially resilient and strategically coordinated bloc despite facing challenges such as oil price volatility, global economic slowdown, and geopolitical tensions.
The collective trade surplus of $110 billion posted by the GCC is the third-largest worldwide.
Al-Sunaidi emphasized that intra-GCC trade acts as a key driver for economic diversification, enhancing competitiveness, and expanding investment and innovation opportunities.
Merchandise trade within the GCC reached approximately $146 billion in 2024, with an annual growth rate of 9.08 percent compared to 2023.
The GCC General Secretariat aims to deepen institutional and legislative integration by developing unified trade policies, updating shared legal and regulatory frameworks, and facilitating the flow of goods and services.
The focus on digital transformation in trade systems is expected to shift intra-GCC trade from mere commodity exchange toward productive economic integration.
Expanding intra-GCC trade enables the leveraging of comparative advantages, creating shared production and supply networks, and consolidating the foundations for GCC economic integration.
The meeting also reviewed progress across several committees, including domestic and foreign trade, small and medium enterprises, consumer protection, and the GCC Secretariat General's Patent Office.
The 69th session of the GCC Ministerial Committee for Trade Cooperation is scheduled to take place on October 29 in Kuwait City.
According to Khalid Ali Al-Sunaidi, the assistant secretary-general for economic and development affairs at the GCC General Secretariat, this achievement underscores the GCC's position as a financially resilient and strategically coordinated bloc despite facing challenges such as oil price volatility, global economic slowdown, and geopolitical tensions.
The collective trade surplus of $110 billion posted by the GCC is the third-largest worldwide.
Al-Sunaidi emphasized that intra-GCC trade acts as a key driver for economic diversification, enhancing competitiveness, and expanding investment and innovation opportunities.
Merchandise trade within the GCC reached approximately $146 billion in 2024, with an annual growth rate of 9.08 percent compared to 2023.
The GCC General Secretariat aims to deepen institutional and legislative integration by developing unified trade policies, updating shared legal and regulatory frameworks, and facilitating the flow of goods and services.
The focus on digital transformation in trade systems is expected to shift intra-GCC trade from mere commodity exchange toward productive economic integration.
Expanding intra-GCC trade enables the leveraging of comparative advantages, creating shared production and supply networks, and consolidating the foundations for GCC economic integration.
The meeting also reviewed progress across several committees, including domestic and foreign trade, small and medium enterprises, consumer protection, and the GCC Secretariat General's Patent Office.
The 69th session of the GCC Ministerial Committee for Trade Cooperation is scheduled to take place on October 29 in Kuwait City.
