Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Secretary-General Abdullatif bin Rashid Al-Zayani has stressed the depth and strength of the historic relations between the GCC and the United Kingdom.

He lauded the considerable progress in these relations in recent years through increasing a volume of trade exchange between the two sides from $9 billion in 2001 into $30 billion in 2015.

This came in Dr. Al-Zayani's speech in London on the occasion of 40th anniversary of the Arab-UK Commerce Chamber in presence of a number of officials and ambassadors, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.

The GCC Secretary General hailed the great efforts exerted by the chamber in promoting economic cooperation among the Arab states and the UK, particularly with the GCC states. He pointed out to the GCC-UK Summit held in Bahrain, in participation of the GCC leaders and UK Prime Minister Theresa May where she stressed that the GCC security is an integral part of the UK security in addition to enhancing joint cooperation between the two sides in enhancing joint cooperation in the political, economic, defense, security, trade and investment fields in addition to combating terrorism