KUWAIT, 1 December 2004 — The Gulf states agreed yesterday to launch a joint media campaign to improve their image abroad and promote Islamic tolerance.

The six states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) said in a communiqué that the plan includes television programs for the region calling for religious coexistence and shunning violence.

The agreement follows a counter-terrorism pact signed by the GCC states in May to share intelligence in the face of rising threats and to dry up sources of terror funding.

GCC Secretary-General Abdul Rahman Al-Attiya told reporters after ministerial talks that the agreement also called for holding Gulf cultural days in Europe to spread understanding about the region and its people.

Projects would “show a positive image abroad of Gulf Cooperation Council states”, said the communiqué from the information ministers of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain.

Saudi Arabia is battling extremists who have waged an 18-month campaign of violence against foreigners and government targets in the world’s largest oil exporter. Other GCC states, such as Bahrain and Kuwait, have also arrested suspected militants.

After the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, in which most of the hijackers were Saudis, Washington complained that the Saudi educational system fostered hatred of the West in young people.

The GCC ministers discussed plans by regional media “to produce many educational programs calling for coexistence and renouncing violence in addition to social programs, children’s educational and scientific programs and cartoons”.

“We cannot fight this terrorism ... without standing together,” Kuwaiti Information Minister Mohammad Abulhasan said.

He told the meeting that media could help defend Arabs and Islam against “fierce attacks ... some of which exploit international affairs to harm our civilization and culture”.

Abulhassan said the proposed plan would be submitted to a Gulf foreign ministers meeting due to be held in Bahrain early next month. The plan “was referred with all the debate and the viewpoints expressed by the ministers ... all of whom expressed their countries’ strong opposition to terrorism”, he said.

Abdullah Al-Jasser, Saudi Information Ministry Undersecretary, said the plan envisages a number of mechanisms for Gulf official and private media to fight extremist ideology.