DOHA, 23 December 2002 — Economic issues took the center stage at a GCC summit yesterday as six Gulf Arab states decided to launch a customs union from Jan. 1. The union eliminates all customs fees, duties, laws and formalities in the way of free trade between Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Bahrain. From Jan. 1, 2003, a single set of custom statutes will govern the import of products to the region. A flat five percent customs duty will be levied on imported goods at any port of entry. Any product transported from one member country to another will be treated as a domestic product.
The announcement was made by GCC Secretary-General Abdul Rahman Al-Attiya, who read the final communiqué of the Gulf Cooperation Council at the end of a two-day summit in Doha.
The summit hoped that the new union would create a climate for healthy competition that would improve the quality of products. It will lower prices and open up more investment opportunities.
The summit approved a document on petroleum strategy that includes an emergency regional plan for GCC petroleum products and assigned the Petroleum Cooperation Committee to conduct a feasibility study on the proposal of Qatar to establish a pipeline for exporting GCC oil.
The six member states decided to conduct a feasibility study on setting up a water grid for the region.
The summit also stressed the need for developing a common educational curriculum.
On the political front, the Gulf states condemned Iraqi President Saddam Hussein for threatening Kuwait and said that peace in the Middle East was only possible if Israel withdrew from Palestinian territories.
The GCC lashed out at Saddam for his purported Dec. 7 apology to Kuwaitis, saying the message, instead, was an “incitement for the Kuwaiti people against their leadership and government and a support for the terror acts that occurred in Kuwait.”
The communiqué did not elaborate, but the mention of terror acts was an apparent reference to attacks on US military personnel in Kuwait, including the Oct. 8 killing of a Marine by two extremists and Al-Qaeda sympathizers, who were also killed.
The GCC communiqué also urged United Nations weapons inspectors in Iraq to work in “an objective and unbiased manner,” while calling on the international community to ensure the quick completion of the inspections. The weapons experts are searching for signs of Iraq’s suspected weapons of mass destruction program. Washington is threatening military action against Baghdad if it does not prove it has complied with UN Security Council resolutions concerning disarming its biological, chemical and nuclear weapons.
“We hope there will be no military action. But honestly, we have little influence in this matter,” Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad ibn Jassim Al-Thani said after the summit ended.
Asked if there was any Gulf initiative on Iraq, he told reporters: “We have no initiative but we have communication with Iraq. We told him (Saddam) that there will be an undesirable escalation.”
Defending a Qatar-US defense accord signed earlier this month, the foreign minister said: “Gulf states are keen to safeguard their security. Most of our brothers signed defense pacts with the US years ago. We were the last.”
The GCC statement condemned terrorism “in all its forms” and attacked Israel for its continued aggression against the Palestinians. The statement also called for terrorism to be distinguished from “the people’s right to resist occupation,” an apparent reference to Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories.
“The end of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land...is the only way to achieve permanent, just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East, and will help the world and the region avoid a war that could lead to dire consequences and a human catastrophe,” the statement said. (Agencies)
