President of the European Commission, expressed hope that the meeting would be fruitful, full of important topics and praised relations binding the EU and the GCC. Then, the GCC Secretary General, Dr. Abdullatif bin Rashid Al-Zayani delivered a speech in which he said that it is optimism that there is a desire to develop relations between the GCC and EU in addition to growing the aspects o cooperation at the bilateral level between the GCC and the EU countries on one hand and between UNHCR and the GCC Secretariat on the other hand. He added, "We have made great strides in recent years towards strengthening mutual cooperation and praised the decision taken by the GCC-EU Council at its 20th session, held in Luxembourg in June 2010 in which the joint work program for the period 2010-2013 was adopted." After that, the meeting discussed regional and international issues of common interest and reviewed the breakthrough that was achieved during the first year of the program of joint work between the two sides, which covers all areas of economic, technical, cultural, educational and others It also discussed the joint endeavors and efforts of the two sides to enhance the prospects of future cooperation.
