RIYADH — Dr. Nayef Falah Mubarak Al-Hajraf, secretary general of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), virtually took part Monday in the 2nd Conference for political dialogue and regional security between the Riyadh-based Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and the Federal Republic of Germany.

In a key address, Dr. Al-Hajraf pointed out that the conference is designed to jointly focus on facing the current spread of coronavirus and highlight the opportunities available for the two sides to enhance common interests in the fields of trade, investment, education and energy as well as a host of fields of common interest.

He also citied that the GCC, since its inception, worked to enhance regional integration among its member states in a number of fields and achieved a number of goals.

He said that restoration of peace, security and stability in our region as a whole necessitates that we strictly apply the enforcement of international law, and the UN charter in a way that guarantees the respect of other party’s sovereignty, political independence, territorial integrity, peaceful solution to conflicts, and non-intervention in domestic affairs.

He noted that Germany shares the GCC countries’ keenness on and interest in the need to restore peace and security in the region.

Al-Hajraf said the GCC states have played a big role in preserving the security of energy supplies and market stability, effectively contributed to the world efforts to combat terrorism, and reject extremism and violence and extended economic and humanitarian generous assistance to their neighbors and other needy countries.

He said the GCC secretariat general has exchanged with the German Federal Bureau a list of proposed items to launch an inclusive dialogue on a number of issues, noting that the GCC expressed readiness to organize and host in collaboration with the interested parties in the two sides a series of workshops and symposia.

He described Germany as among the GCC’s most important trade partners, citing that the size of trade exchange between the two sides amounted to $26.2 billion in 2019 as Germany’s exports to the GCC countries totaled $22.9 billion while GCC exports to Germany stood at $3.3 billion.

He stressed that opportunities to increase the figures are still big and available. — SPA