The Secretariat General of the Federation of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Chambers launched a joint economic cooperation project with Philippines in the fields of banking, agriculture, trade exchange, exports, employment and tourism. The launch of this project comes after the agreement between the GCC States and the Philippines to launch the economic cooperation project in order to build strong economic ties in the long term. This agreement was concluded during the visit paid recently by the Secretary General of the Federation of GCC Chambers Abdulrahim Hassan Naqi to Manila, the Philippine. During the visit, Naqi held talks with President of the Philippines Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo a number of Filipino officials during which they discussed a number of issues pertaining to the activation of economic cooperation between the two sides. Naqi pointed out that the volume of trade exchange between the two sides increased by 20 percent.