GCC foreign ministers’ meet on Thursday

Regional security with special reference to the mounting crisis in Yemen will top the agenda of the meeting of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) foreign ministers here Thursday. “This meeting will also discuss several key regional and international issues of common concern,” said Abdullateef Al-Zayani, GCC secretary general, here on Tuesday.
“The GCC foreign ministers will also review the repercussions of the new regional and international developments on the security and stability of the Gulf region,” said Al-Zayani in a statement. He said that Yemen, where about 16 million people are in acute need of humanitarian assistance, would be discussed thoroughly by the foreign ministers with an aim to defuse the crisis.
The UN Special Adviser on Yemen Jamal Benomar, who arrived in Riyadh on Tuesday, is likely to attend the meeting. During his stay in Riyadh, Benomar will also meet several Saudi and GCC officials for consultations over the latest regional developments and the forthcoming rounds of dialogue among the political parties of Yemen.
Referring to the other subjects that will be taken up for discussions by the ministers, the GCC statement said that the meeting will discuss the progress on the decisions taken by the GCC Supreme Council last year. This 134th ministerial council will be chaired by the Qatari Foreign Minister Khalid bin Mohammad Al-Attiyah, who is the chairman of the current session of the Ministerial Council.
Arab News could not reach senior media officials including Ahmed Al-Kabi, a spokesman of the GCC, for more details despite several calls made to them Tuesday. This is the first GCC ministerial meeting after the six-nation GCC announced their decision to hold talks between warring factions over Yemen in the Saudi capital.
Saudi Arabia had said the decision for organizing the peace conference in Riyadh was made in response to a request by Yemen’s President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi. Moreover, the GCC’s decision to hold peace negotiations between different factions in the Saudi capital got support from several quarters including the Arab League on Tuesday.
A statement issued by the Council of Arab Foreign Ministers welcomed the decision of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman on hosting the conference under the umbrella of the GCC with participation of all Yemeni political parties wishing to maintain Yemen’s security and stability. The GCC initiative to hold the Yemen negotiations in Riyadh was also backed by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Tuesday.