ABU DHABI, 24 May — The Gulf Arab states have told the European Union to steer clear of human rights issues in the region, senior GCC officials said yesterday.

Representatives of the six member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council discussed political and economic matters with EU delegates at a conference on future ties between the two blocs in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, and officials said they also expressed their dissatisfaction with US classification of “evil countries”.

The conference discussed the need for a political and security dialogue between the GCC and the EU, said Dr. Jamal Al-Suweidi, director of the Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research, which organized the event.

“They covered a variety of subjects including the nature of regimes in the Gulf, human rights, technology, human resources and education,” he told reporters.

“We pointed out to them that the development process in the GCC countries is different from that in other countries. We believe that linking such a process in the GCC to human rights concepts in the West amounts to interference in the special characteristics of the GCC and this again raises the issue of double-standards,” the Gulf News quoted Al-Suweidi as saying.

Samy Nair, head of the European Parliament’s foreign relations committee responsible for the region, said in Riyad earlier this week that the Gulf states must address the human rights issues to achieve economic development.

“We have reconfirmed our positions ... that there can be no economic development without social development ... and the respect of human rights,” Nair, a French MEP and head of the 18-member EU parliamentary delegation, told a press conference after meeting senior officials in the Saudi capital.

The other topic covered the close and strong cooperation between the GCC and the EU in the international drive to fight terror and to achieve stability and security in the Gulf. The participants stressed the need for the United States to “change its policy which divides the world into axes of good and evil”.

Al-Suweidi said the GCC states want to expand their relationship with the EU to protect their common interests. He noted that the GCC is the biggest oil supplier to the EU and one of the largest markets for European products. They also have long and historic ties in various fields.

But he said despite such a relationship, the GCC-EU partnership is still below the required level.

“Of course they have tried to bolster this relationship, but it was an individual attempts and the two groups have yet to benefit from their collective resources,” said Al-Suweidi.

“The cooperation agreement signed between the two sides in 1988 has not succeeded in finding a framework or a ground for an efficient cooperation,” he said.

“The GCC hopes the EU will exert stronger efforts to boost that relationship given the strategic significance it attaches to the Gulf. We also hope the EU Commission will open a representative office in the GCC this year in line with an agreement reached at a ministerial meeting in Granda early this year.”

Al-Suweidi said the need for a stronger relationship between the GCC and the EU became more pressing following the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States and the ensuing war on terrorism.

“As far as the GCC is concerned, there is a strong desire to develop ties and open new horizons of cooperation with the EU,” he said.

Diplomats and other officials from the GCC countries attended the conference, which attracted EU officials and several other European intellectuals and academics.

EU delegates said the closed-door conference provided an opportunity for the two sides to engage in what they described as a constructive dialogue on several issues.

“The discussions were very constructive and useful because they were honest and frank. We did agree on several issues and we tried to bridge the gap in other issues... but I can assure you that there are no fundamental disagreements between the EU and the GCC,” said Giacomo Luciani, a professor of political economy and co-director of the Mediterranean Program at the Robert Schuman Center for Advanced Studies in Italy.

He said the two sides can engage in a dialogue on security and human rights in a way that will not be seen as interference in internal affairs or hurt their political links.