MUSCAT, 31 October — The risk of a US-led war on Iraq will lend "special significance" to the annual decision-making gathering of Gulf Arab leaders in Qatar in late December, GCC Secretary-General Abdul Rahman Al-Attiya has said.
"The summit will be of special significance due to the crucial stage witnessed by the countries of the region," Attiya said after attending a meeting of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) defense ministers in Oman.
The summit "will cover a number of political, economic, educational, cultural, military and security issues," he said.
Foreign ministers of the six states will hold a preparatory meeting in Doha on Nov. 20 during which they will announce a date for the full summit to be held in the Qatari capital.
The GCC, home to thousands of US forces and tons of stockpiled military materiel, has advocated a peaceful, diplomatic resolution to the Iraq crisis, calling for UN weapons inspectors to return to Baghdad as soon as possible.
The GCC defense ministers discussed ways of boosting military cooperation among the member states during their two-day meeting which ended in the Omani capital Muscat Tuesday.
The ministers also held the first meeting of their joint defense council, said a statement issued after the talks. They voiced satisfaction at the steps taken under the GCC joint defense pact to bolster "military cooperation and coordination," the statement said.
The defense council, formed at a GCC summit here last December, is supposed to oversee the implementation of the joint defense pact which commits the GCC states to defend any member state against an outside threat. (AFP)
The council must meet once a year at the level of defense ministers under the country holding the rotating GCC presidency — currently Oman — and can be convened in case of emergency for joint sessions with foreign ministers.
A Omani official said the Peninsula Shield, the regional bloc’s joint defense force, would conduct exercises in Oman next year. The exact date has yet to be set.
The statement, however, did not mention plans to expand the force.
The GCC has since 1986 had a joint defense force of 5,000 men stationed at Hafr Al-Batin in northeastern Saudi Arabia. Plans have long been made to bolster the number of men to some 20,000.
The Muscat meeting was chaired by Oman’s minister for defense affairs, Badr ibn Saud ibn Harib Busaidi, who described the joint defense council as a "qualitative" step forward in military coordination.
Attiya said last week the ministers would discuss ways of upgrading Peninsula Shield. He also said the GCC states were discussing a number of joint military projects including one for defense communications, a Gulf reconnaissance satellite and a Cooperation Belt project.
