The Foreign Ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) held today a meeting with their European Union counterparts on the sidelines of the 62nd session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. The meeting, under the chairmanship of Portugal's Minister of Foreign Affairs Luis Amado whose country is currently holding the rotating presidency of the European Union, took place in the presense of EU Commissioner for External Relations Benita Ferrero-Waldner. The GCC side was headed by Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs Prince Saud Al-Faisal who is also Chairman of the current session of the Ministerial Council. In a statement following the meeting, GCC Secretary General Abdulrahman bin Hamad Al-Atiyyah, who participated in the meeting, said many topics of common interest, particularly the Palestinian issue, the developments in Iraq and Lebanon, Iran's nuclear issue and Middle East peace process, were discussed during the meeting. "The meeting discussed the relations between GCC and the European Union in all fields, particularly the progress of the ongoing negotiations between the two sides in order to reach a free trade agreement," Al-Atiyyah said.
