MUSCAT: Finance ministers of the world’s largest oil exporting region will discuss a proposal for a regional development bank similar to Europe’s, an executive of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) said on Friday.

Finance ministers and central bank governors from six Gulf nations which form the GCC are meeting in Muscat to set the agenda for the rulers’ summit in Kuwait next month. “They will discuss the Qatar vision of a mechanism for the proposal for an investment and development bank like you have in the EU,” GCC Secretary General Abdulrahman Al-Attiyah told reporters.

The bank would provide funding for regional projects and would also make donations outside of the GCC, Al-Attiyah said.

“Before, the countries did it individually, now they will do it together,” he said.

Nothing had yet been decided as to the capital of the proposed bank, Al-Attiyah said, although ministers would look into this on Saturday.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) was established in 1991 to help former Communist and Soviet countries move toward market economies, and lends to commercial entities. The bank is controlled by over 60 shareholders including European Union members, the United States and Japan.

The European Investment Bank is the European Union’s long-term lending institution.

Al-Attiyah also said he was confident the four Gulf countries would have a monetary council — a step toward a single currency — in place by next January.

When asked if the monetary council would be in place by Jan. 1, 2010, Al-Attiyah said: “Of course.”

The project has been hampered by the United Arab Emirates’ decision in May to opt out from the common currency, three years after a similar move by Oman. A series of political disagreements have held up talks for almost a decade.

Ratification by the four remaining countries is needed for the project to go ahead, but so far only Saudi Arabia has done so. Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait have not yet ratified, leaving question marks over the future of the project.

“Ratification is on the way,” he said, adding he expected Qatar to ratify next week.

The GCC consists of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain.

Al-Attiyah also said GCC ministers are working to accelerate the region’s economic integration.

“(Ministers) will be working on the acceleration of economic integration of the GCC countries... weighing up the obstacles,” he said.

He added issues covered would include a customs and monetary union, a common market, and a joint railway project.