GCC Forms Common Market, Kuwait Spat
DOHA. – Abdul Rahman al-Attiya, secretary general of the six oil-rich Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nations, announced the establishment of a common market at the closing session of the GCC summit here on Tuesday.
Reading out the Doha Declaration, Al-Attiya said the long-anticipated common market will be brought into play as of Jan. 1, 2008….
The common market is aimed at achieving fairness for the people in the six Gulf Arab states in business, investment, employment, education and medical care, according to al-Attiya.
The establishment of the Gulf common market is a big step forward of the GCC, which has been striving for a European Union-style bloc.
On the timetable of its economic integration, the bloc, which groups Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), launched a customs union in 2003 and aims to set up a common market by 2007 and to adopt a single currency in 2010.
Founded in 1981, the Saudi capital Riyadh-based GCC is a regional political and economic alliance aimed at enhancing cooperation among its six member states.
DOHA, NewsYemen
The Gulf Cooperation Countries have expressed their satisfaction with the developing economic ties between Yemen and Gulf states.
The leaders of Gulf states pointed in a common statement while concluding their 28th summit in Doha Tuesday to the results of the Donors Conference held in London and the Conference of Exploring Investment Opportunities in Yemen held in Sana’a as well as the contributions of Gulf states to financing the investment program included in Yemen’s third five-year development plan. The statement talked about funding more than 50 projects in different regions of Yemen.
The Gulf States have hailed steps Yemen has taken on the way of comprehensive development, confirming that gulf support for Yemen will go on. They have also affirmed the importance of protecting Yemeni unity.
The Yemeni side has welcomed the results of the summit and highly appreciated the Gulf states readiness to continue supporting development in Yemen and to reach real partnership.
The two-day summit came out with GCC’s member states announcement to launch a common market by 2008 and a currency union by 2010. They also announced to maintain their currencies’ peg to the US dollar.
GCC Secretary-General Abdul Rahman Al-Attiyah described the announcement as “historic”.
The final communiqué of the summit said such steps will help GCC citizens get great benefits.
It said Gulf peoples will be able to work in any state of GCC, in Government and private institutions and they can invest anywhere and move freely between the countries of GCC.
Kuwait Has Reservations About Yemen Joining GCC
High-level sources in the Gulf have said that during a session of the GCC conference in Doha, Kuwaiti representatives expressed their reservations about a proposal that Yemen would in future join the GCC.
According to conference participants, these reservations were due to Yemen’s support of Iraq during the second Gulf War.
Source: Al-Hayat, London, December 7, 2007
Kuwait denies opposing Yemen’s accession to GCC
[09 December 2007]
SANA’A, Dec. 09 (Saba)- Kuwaiti high-ranked sources refuted press reports said that Kuwait had opposed Yemen’s joining to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), pointing that those reports were not true, the 26sep.net reported on Sunday.
According to the sources, Kuwait didn’t voice refusal to Yemen’s accession to the six-member bloc during the GCC’s Doha summit which the Iranian president Mohmoud Ahmadi Nejad attended.
The sources confirmed Kuwait’s adherence to the stance of all GCC states, commending promoting relations with Yemen.
The sources noted that Kuwaiti-Yemeni relations are distinguished, especially in the economic fields, adding all recent discussions conducted by the GCC’s member states focused on the matter of reinforcing the relations between the members and Yemen.
Yemen’s participation in sport, health and social activities of GCC had showed a real initiative to join Yemen into the gulf council.
