European Union leaders and the heads of state of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries will meet in Saudi Arabia on 24 October 2026 for the second EU-GCC Summit.
The multilateral meeting will be co-chaired on the EU side by European Council President António Costa, with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also representing the bloc, the European Council announced on Friday.
The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) includes Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
EU–GCC relations are based on a cooperation agreement signed in 1989, which set up regular dialogue on areas including economic ties, climate change, energy, the environment and research.
“The time has come to deepen the EU-GCC partnership,” Costa said.
Trade and investment links
The EU is the GCC’s second-biggest trade partner, the European Council said.
Trade between the EU and the six GCC countries totalled €165.6 billion in 2025, including almost €110 billion of EU exports and €55.6 billion of EU imports.
Over the last decade, EU-GCC trade rose by almost 30%, with imports up by almost 54% and exports up by almost 20%.
Fuels accounted for more than 75% of the EU’s imports from GCC countries.
Services trade between the EU and GCC countries was worth €84.4 billion in 2024 — the latest year available — including €56.2 billion in EU exports and €28.2 billion in EU imports.
Services trade more than doubled between 2014 and 2024, rising by 119%.
EU foreign direct investment stock in the GCC stood at €163.1 billion in 2024, while GCC investment stock in the EU was €189.8 billion.
The six GCC countries have a combined population of around 60 million people, with Saudi Arabia and the UAE the most populous at 35.3 million and 11.3 million respectively, World Bank data cited by the European Council showed. The Gulf holds almost a third of the world’s oil reserves.
