MUSCAT, 30 December — Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd has stressed the significance of implementing the GCC customs union and need for a common currency to expedite economic integration and progress in the region.
In a statement to the Omani News Agency yesterday, King Fahd lauded the farsightedness of the GCC leadership 22 years ago when they decided to form the Gulf Cooperation Council. "When the Arab Gulf leaders launched the GCC they were sure that it was the ideal way to enhance close cooperation and realize integrity to reach common goals," he said. Countries in other parts of world have been forming economic and political blocs ever since.
Although all the aspirations of the people have not been achieved, "progress through moderate, logical, slow but firm steps have guaranteed firmness and continuity", the king said.
GCC is a vibrant entity which employs all positive concepts of progress, King Fahd underscored and lauded the GCC’s sub-committees which hold regular meetings, forge appropriate mechanisms and benefit from practical experiments and developments.
The moderate course followed by the GCC will lead to more efficient and strong performance, the king hoped. The member states take harmonious stands in matters that concern the region and its people.
The Supreme Council of the GCC, standing at the head of the elite hierarchy, reaches its resolutions in a realistic and scientific manner. "I am also confident that their leaders would spare no effort to make the dreams of the people come true", the king told the news agency.
The king said the GCC’s influence is multilateral, its political orientation moderate and ethical approach noble. He emphasized that going ahead with this approach would lead to a strengthening of the Council’s performance.
"We hope that with the development of a partnership program and economic market, our organization would become much stronger and influential in promoting our interests with others", he said. The king said the GCC members are concerned not just about the Arab and Muslim countries but the whole world.
The foremost issue which concerns GCC is the establishment of the legitimate rights of the Palestinians. Therefore, the GCC will continue its efforts through all available channels to persuade global powers to play their role in implementing the legitimate resolutions. All decisions taken by the Council are publicized and their dimensions known. Their translation into action in order to achieve the goals are subject to a number of factors. The important thing is to overcome the obstacles that may arise in the process of their implementation, the king added.
The king also commended the policies of Sultan Qaboos of Oman on both domestic and international fronts as well as his tireless efforts to implement those policies. Consequently the Sultanate has achieved all-round progress, the king noted.
Ministers from Saudi Arabia and five Gulf allies agreed yesterday to speed up implementation of a unified customs union by two years to 2003, Oman’s Foreign Minister Youssef bin Alawi Abdullah said.
The agreement, expected to be ratified by their leaders at their summit opening in Oman today, would pave the way for a long-sought free trade agreement with the European Union, the GCC’s main trading partner.
"Agreement has been reached on the economic issues, including the customs union, whose implementation will start in January 2003," Abdullah told reporters after nearly four hours of talks by GCC foreign and finance ministers.
Under the proposed deal, the GCC states would unify customs to five percent from the present range of five to 15 percent levied by members on foreign imports. An earlier agreement had set the start date for the customs union in 2005.
The move is part of a wider plan by the GCC for a single regional currency and a unified trade zone, and is designed to speed up negotiations with the EU.
Abdullah said the ministers had also approved establishing a single currency by 2010, pegged to the dollar. Currencies of GCC states, with the exception of Kuwait, are pegged to the dollar, in which their main crude oil export is traded.
Kuwait’s dinar is currently linked to a basket of currencies.
Free trade negotiations with the EU have been hampered by European demands for a GCC common tariff structure and protectionist EU policies.
A key dispute is over a six percent EU duty on primary aluminum exports from the Gulf. Two aluminum smelters in Bahrain and the UAE produce more than one million tons per year.
"The customs union will strengthen the position of the GCC in trade negotiations with the EU and the United States, especially with respect to the free trade agreement," said Saudi economist Saeed Al-Shaikh. He said the five percent unified tariff would move the Gulf in line with requirements by the World Trade Organization (WTO), particularly concerning Saudi Arabia, the only GCC state yet to join.
