Individual state level

Trade - Germany

Kuwait 's trade relations with Germany are strongest in comparison to all other EU members. German companies have been one of the main participants in Kuwait 's Telecommunication, Transportation and Consumer goods market. Kuwaiti companies are also very active in Germany . According to the German government t he Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA) holds an approximately 7 % share in DaimlerChrysler AG and an approximately 15 % share in Metallgesellschaft AG. Further shares in listed German joint stock companies are held through the Investment Portfolios administered by big international banks. The state-owned Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) owns a 24.5 % share in Hoechst AG.

Politics– the UK

At a political level Kuwait 's relations with the UK is the strongest in comparison to other EU members. This is due to Britain 's large scale military support to the Allied campaign to free Kuwait in 1991. This was followed by further British assistance for the defence of Kuwait after the end of the conflict. The presence of large number of Kuwaiti students and businessmen in the UK and Kuwait 's British colonial past all contribute to the strength of relations between the two countries.  

EU entity level

Kuwait's relations with the EU comes under the EU's relations with the GCC countries which include Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates.

According to the EU in 1989 the EC and the GCC concluded a Cooperation Agreement under which the EU and GCC Foreign ministers meet once a year at a Joint Council/Ministerial Meeting. The objective of this agreement is to facilitate trade relations, as well as more generally to contribute to strengthening stability in a strategic part of the world. Working groups have been established in the fields of industrial cooperation, energy and environment. In 1996, decentralised cooperation (university cooperation, business cooperation and media cooperation) was added to the agenda.

The 1989 Cooperation Agreement also contains a commitment from both sides to enter into negociations on a Free Trade Agreement between the EC and the GCC. The negotiating mandate from the Council of the European Union adopted in 2001, states as condition for signature of such an agreement the constitution of a GCC Customs Union. Since then the Kuwaiti government alongside other GCC countries have established the GCC customs Union thus paving the way for negotiations with the EU for the establishment of a GCC bloc FTA with the EU. Discussions are currently taking place with the EU regarding the areas to be covered by the agreement.

The GCC remains the EU's sixth largest export market. Furthermore the EU consistently has an export surplus in the trade balance with the GCC. In 2000, the EU exports revenue from the GCC amounted to 29 billion euro whereas imports amounted to 22 billion euro. Crude oil represents almost two thirds of EU imports from the GCC.

The EU exports to GCC are diversified, but the main weight remains on large machinery such as power generation plants, railway locomotives and aircrafts, electrical machinery items and mechanical appliances. These product groups make up about one third of the total exports. Medical equipment make up another large part, leaving the remaining exports to a wide variety of products.

By: Meir Javedanfar- www.meepas.com

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