GCC security agreement signed

RIYADH: GCC interior ministers signed a security agreement yesterday, which will make them a unified force in the region. The pact aims at reinforcing security cooperation and coordination between the GCC member countries, said the bloc’s chief Abdullatif Al-Zayani. “The security pact will empower each GCC country to take legal action, based on its own legislation, against citizens or residents or organized groups that are linked to crime, terrorism or dissension,” said Al-Zayani. The member countries will also exchange information and expertise to combat all forms of crime, said the GCC chief.
An official said that the initial security agreement was announced in Manama in December 1994, but only Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Oman endorsed it at the time. Qatar entered the pact in 2009. The GCC leaders, at their 2010 summit in Kuwait, called for building on the understanding by putting it to a committee of experts and specialists from the GCC countries.