I wish the secretary-general of the Gulf Cooperation Council would drop the boring, antiquated language of the final communiqués issued at the end of GCC summits and ministerial meetings. These statements are always a repetition of what we have heard many times before and, as we know, are meaningless. Following last week’s consultative summit by GCC leaders in Riyadh, the secretary-general read out a statement that added nothing to what people already knew.
The statement touched on four issues — and used the same words which have been used in all previous meetings and then failed to outline any mechanism for explaining how each of the four issues should be tackled. Beginning with terrorism, the statement reiterated the well-known GCC stand — condemnation. Likewise, the position on Iraq is well-known. Nonetheless, the statement spoke of the leaders’ concern over the violence, insecurity and instability prevalent in the country and called for restoring normalcy to Iraq.
In other words, the same old things in the same old words. As for Palestine and the Middle East peace process, the statement contained nothing new.
It simply said that the GCC welcomed the road map, something stated long ago, and the leaders expressed hope that Israel would accept the plan.
And finally to Arab solidarity — an elusive dream the GCC has muttered about for years. The statement called for overcoming Arab differences and for Arab states to avoid conflicts with one other.
These same topics seem to be part of the fixed agenda in all GCC meetings. If we look at all the statements issued so far, we will soon see that the GCC has never been able to translate words into deeds or to produce any tangible results felt by the people of the six countries.
If this is the case with only six states, what can we realistically expect of the larger Arab world consisting of 22 countries?
Was the last consultative meeting held only to discuss the above issues? Are all the conclusions reached by the leaders contained in the statement read out by the secretary-general?
If so, then what is the use of the GCC? What benefit can the people of the region expect from these meetings? If these summits really address important issues, these are never made public.
And why are such important matters kept so secret from the people they affect? The statements and communiqués issued by the secretary-general add up to one very plain fact: there is no need whatsoever for such meetings.
If things continue like this, there is in fact no need for the GCC itself.
Arab News From the Local Press 26 May 2003
