RIYADH, 28 February 2004 — Foreign ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) convening here yesterday will urge a speedy handover of power to Iraqis and coordinate stands ahead of Arab League meetings that will tackle the issue of reform, a Gulf source said.
Since they are gathering just on the eve of the March 1-4 Arab foreign ministers meetings in Cairo, they may choose not to come out publicly with a verdict on the US plan for reform in the Arab world, the source said.
The ministers from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) “will coordinate stands on ways of promoting joint Arab action ... as to the US plan, which remains vague, they are all going to the Arab League meetings, and will take their views on this to Cairo,” the source said.
The Arab League foreign ministers are due to prepare the ground for structural reform of their 22-member body ahead of a March 29-30 summit in Tunis.
But such Arab efforts, already facing skepticism earned from inaction on crises that have faced the Arab world over the past decades, have been overshadowed by Washington’s “Greater Middle East Initiative” to democratize the region.
The US plan was rebuffed in no uncertain terms in a joint Saudi-Egyptian statement issued after a visit by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to Riyadh on Tuesday.
Bahrain also appeared to rebuff the US plan, saying reform initiatives should be coordinated with the countries concerned.
GCC Secretary-General Abdulrahman Al-Attiyah said Wednesday that the foreign ministers of the bloc would discuss “developing mechanisms of joint Arab action” with the aim of forging a “common vision” to be put to the meeting in Cairo.
