  We present the results of a recent novel application of the `hard exclusive'
perturbative formalism to the process gg --> MMbar at large angles, where M
(Mbar) is a light meson (anti-meson). As well as discussing the important
theoretical features of the relevant leading-order gg --> qqbar(gg) qqbar(gg)
6-parton amplitudes, we also comment on their phenomenological implications. In
particular, we consider the central exclusive production of meson pairs at
comparatively large transverse momentum k_t, which is expected to proceed via
this mechanism. We show that this leads to various non-trivial predictions for
a range of exclusive processes, and that the cross sections for the eta' and
eta mesons display significant sensitivity to any valence gg component of the
meson wavefunctions.
