Bahrain's foreign minister, Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, said in Islamabad on Thursday that Bahrain, which currently holds the presidency of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC, a six-nation Gulf political and economic bloc), is working to speed up approval of a free trade agreement with Pakistan. Pakistan's Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar said the GCC secretary general had called the deal "almost ripe", with only one member state yet to give its approval. The remarks came at the third Pakistan-Bahrain Joint Ministerial Commission, where both sides also agreed to set up a working group on trade and investment and reaffirmed a target of $1 billion in bilateral trade, a deal that could deepen Pakistan's economic ties with the Gulf at a time of regional turbulence.