22nd Gulf Arab Summit Opens in Oman

Home>>World

Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, December 31, 2001

22nd Gulf Arab Summit Opens in Oman

The 22nd summit of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) kicked off Muscat on Sunday afternoon.

The 22nd summit of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) kicked off Muscat on Sunday afternoon.

The two-day summit is expected to further push forward the integration process of its six member states, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The summit, the fourth of its kind held in Oman since the regional alliance was set up in 1981, assumes great importance against the backdrop of the current regional and international developments.

The two-day summit aims to further press ahead GCC's integration process by seeking to make the GCC joint economic agreement more flexible to the Gulf economic developments. It will approve the introduction of a customs union in 2003 instead of 2005 with customs tariffs to be unified at 5 percent, and the launch of a single currency by 2010.

"The Muscat summit is of great importance to Gulf economic integration and forward march," GCC Secretary General Jameel al- Hujailan has stressed.

Gulf foreign and financial ministers finalized the agenda for the summit at their joint meeting Friday night. High on the agenda are a wide range of topics covering economic, political, security and social domains.

The Muscat summit comes at a crucial stage of history which highlight the need for even closer cohesion and mutual support among the GCC states.

More concerted plans are expected to be adopted at the summit to increase the economic and political weight of the GCC as a growing entity, regionally and globally.

Attending the summit are Sultan of Oman Qaboos Bin Said, Amir of Bahrain Sheikh Hamad Bin Isa al-Khalifa, Emir of Qatar Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa al-Thani, Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Sheikh Maktoum Bin Rashid al-Maktoum, Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince and First Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Bin Abdul-Aziz, and Kuwait's Acting Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jaber al- Sabah.

Over 120 journalists from more than 50 countries have gathered in the Omani capital to cover the GCC summit.