A GCC-EU free trade agreement (FTA) should see the light of day soon, the European Parliament's top official said yesterday. Addressing a Press conference at the Gulf Hotel at the end of his day-long visit to Bahrain as part of a tour of GCC capitals, European Parliament President Hans-Gert Pottering said the way forward is through dialogue. "We have spoken in the past and negotiations are at an advanced stage," he was quoted as saying by Gulf Daily News. Pottering, who earlier met Bahrain's King Hamad, Prime Minister Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, Shoura (Consultative) Council members and other senior officials, said Bahrain is an important part of the Gulf Cooperation Council(GCC) and its stand on the matter had to be taken into consideration. "There is a lot of keenness in this country that this agreement should go ahead and that is a positive development." --MORE
