The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries have set their eyes on China for a trade agreement that will give them access to one fifth of the world market, the Gulf News reported in Abu Dhabi Saturday.

Finance ministers and other senior officials from the Gulf group will fly to Beijing in late May for talks on a proposed trade and economic cooperation agreement similar to the one they signed with the European Union nearly six years ago.

The talks will be followed by another round of negotiations later in 2004 to discuss details of the agreement, which was proposed by the GCC a few years ago.

"The GCC countries have held some rounds of talks with Chinese officials on such an agreement, but they were delayed until after the enforcement of the customs union. They are now hopeful the talks will be more useful and constructive and could eventually lead to an agreement although this will take time," an official from Kuwait was quoted as saying.

"After the GCC became a single trade and economic bloc with the establishment of the Customs Union, we are in the process of intensifying our efforts to negotiate with other countries and economic blocs," he said.

Experts said a pact with China would benefit both sides as commercial exchange and investment between the two sides has grown fast over the past two years as a result of China's continuous export offensive worldwide and a campaign by the GCC countries to find new markets for their petrochemicals, aluminium and other products.

From a negligible value of less than US$1 billion in mid 1980s, Sino-GCC trade jumped to over US$12 billion in 2003, of which nearly US$6 billion worth were Chinese exports, including electronics, toys, watches and machinery.

GCC states, which control more than 45 percent of the world's recoverable oil deposits, have also become the top crude suppliers to the most populous nation and the fastest growing market in the world.

China's reliance on Middle Eastern oil is set to sharply increase in the future as its own crude resources are depleting fast.

(Xinhua News Agency May 9, 2004)