Waldner, said he saw no real obstacles to the conclusion of the pact. The EU side was led by Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency. The GCC and the EU signed a framework economic cooperation agreement in 1988. The GCC states met one of the EU requirements when they launched a customs union in January 2003. In principle, the GCC plans a common market in 2007 and a monetary union and single currency by the start of 2010. The GCC is critical of high taxes levied by the EU on its refined oil products and aluminum, as well as its massive trade deficit with Europe, which Sheikh Mohammad said reached $17 billion. "We in the GCC states feel that petrochemicals and aluminum should get a different (preferential) treatment because they are important to us," the Bahraini minister said. GCC Secretary General Abdul Rahman Al-Attiyah said the GCC was currently the EU's fifth largest export market, while the EU ranked as the main trade partner of the six Gulf states collectively.
