Conference to Focus on GCC Monetary Union

MANAMA, 19 November 2004 — The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) monetary union and a single GCC labor market are at the top of the agenda, to be debated by the governors of the central banks, economists and experts from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) at a conference, scheduled to take place in Bahrain next week.

The conference themed “GCC 2010 from Competition to Integration” is organized by the Bahrain Economic Society (BES) and held under the patronage of the Governor of Bahrain Monetary Agency, Shaikh Ahmed ibn Mohammed Al-Khalifa. The conference, which will be held on next Wednesday and Thursday, is expected to attract more than 350 delegates from across the region. “It will be one of the premier forums to take up the major issues confronting the GCC economies especially in the wake of emerging single market and globalization,” said a spokesperson.