Gulf Cooperation Council set to open 30th summit in Kuwait

Mon, 14 Dec 2009

Cairo - The Gulf Cooperation Council's 30th summit was set to begin later Monday in Kuwait, with the global economic downturn, the Dubai debt crisis and political instability in Yemen likely to top the agenda. Also in focus would be Iran's nuclear program, leaders indicated in the lead-up to the summit, although they stressed they want to have good relations with Tehran.

"While recognizing the right to peaceful nuclear energy, we urge Tehran to meet international safety criteria and environmental aspects of the issue," Abdelrahman Al-Atiyya, secretary general of the GCC, told the Egyptian Al-Ahram newspaper, pushing for a Middle East free of nuclear weapons.

He said Iran should take advantage of the "openness" shown towards it by the current US administration and aim toward a deal with the international community.

"There is an increasing importance for the GCC states to achieve regional security and stability," Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah of Kuwait told the KUNA news agency.

The GCC is a loose economic and political union formed in 1981 between Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UEA, though in recent years the relations have been tightening.

The ongoing fighting in Yemen between rebels and the government has also grabbed the attention of the GCC, particularly as Saudi Arabia has been drawn into the fighting.

Officials have said ensuring the stability along the Saudi-Yemen border was crucial to the whole region, as Riyadh was the largest partner in the grouping.

Al-Sabah also said further economic cooperation and integration between the six member states would be a key point on the agenda.

The launch of the first phase of a joint electrical grid in the region was also being mulled alongside continued negotiations to move ahead with a single currency. Plans for the appearance of the actual banknotes have been continuously pushed back.

While the United Arab Emirates and Oman have opted out of a planned joint central bank, GCC officials have said they still are aiming to pull the two back in over the longer period. In the meantime, plans call for the group to move ahead with technical aspects, with the bank's launch expected in the middle of the next decade.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/299199,gulf-cooperation-council-set-to-open-30th-summit-in-kuwait.html.