Rulers from Gulf Arab countries will meet in UAE capital Abu
Dhabi on Dec. 6-7 to discuss political, security and financial issues affecting
the world's top oil exporting region.
"The Emirates still hope that there will be a single
currency for the countries of the (Gulf Cooperation) Council one day,"
Sultan bin Saeed Al-Mansouri told Saudi newspaper Al-Eqtisadiah.
The second largest Arab economy withdrew from the project
last year in protest against placing the joint monetary council in rival Saudi
Arabia. UAE policymakers had said rejoining was not on the table unless it is
profitable.
Neighboring non-OPEC Oman pulled out in 2006 and ruled out
any comeback.
Only four countries from the six-nation GCC — Saudi Arabia,
Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain — remained committed to form the long-delayed
monetary union but the project made little progress this year with the euro
zone debt crisis limiting its appeal.
Al-Mansouri said the goal was to reach an agreement among
all Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members, adding Gulf policymakers would
discuss the union during the forthcoming summit.
"We in the Emirates believe our destiny is in the
common Gulf region, whether economically, politically or socially," he
said.
The GCC secretary general said in May the single currency
was unlikely to be launched by 2015 after missing the initial 2010 deadline.
Analysts have said Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil
exporter and the main driving force behind the monetary union, faces a
challenge to keep the project rolling as the economic power of fellow crude
exporters rises.
