There are many strong ties that bind together the member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council. Some of these bonds are invisible. The growing integration of military assets along with their command and control systems is not noticeable. In a region riven with conflict, security actually demands a low profile for the considerable work being done to enhance the GCC’s joint defensive capability. Thus the most that many GCC citizens knew about the establishment of its own ground units and a joint naval task force, was from reports of the Council’s summit this week in Doha.

The overriding take-home message from this year’s meeting has been “Unity.” Many delegates echoed the warning of Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani that the organization faced unprecedented security and political challenges.

The strategic details of the enhanced military cooperation were understandably not explained at the end of the GCC meeting. It will be even more important that the tactical arrangements that commanders from member states agree, are also kept secure. Nevertheless, it must be a great comfort to all GCC citizens and those who live and work here to know that robust and effective defensive measures are under way.

It was notable that once again, this year, the GCC reiterated its demands that Tehran return the islands of Abu Musa, Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb to UAE control.

Undoubtedly higher profile will be the new GCC police force. To be based in the UAE, these law officers are likely to bring to the detection of crime, a coordinated database. This will help police forces in individual states track known criminals and gather intelligence on their next crimes. In time it is also likely to enhance the effectiveness of relations with Interpol and the police forces of states that border the GCC. This year’s summit was notable for other important reasons. A further invisible bond that is bringing the member states ever closer together is in world of trade and finance. Traders around the world have for centuries known how to buy and sell with multiple currencies. Even so there is no doubt that commerce is facilitated by a single currency.

It would be good to believe that the GCC has studied and learned from the strengths and weaknesses of the euro. It was created by European federalists who saw it as a way of bringing EU states closer politically. It was welcomed by business because it reduced conversion costs and currency risks. For this same reason, European banks could only pretend to be pleased at the loss of a revenue stream. They had made a very good living from foreign exchange transactions. Unfortunately the euro had to reflect the value of hard-working economies such as Germany as well as distinctly less-applied countries such as Greece. That was a core contradiction. It was coupled with a general fudging of the strict deficit and debt rules for euro admission. Hence there still remain big questions over the European single currency.

At least within GCC states, predictable exchange rates are clearly facilitating trade. The summit was told that internal trade within the bloc is set to pass $100 billion a year. And there is a degree to which a nominal GCC single currency already exists. Businesses trade using a basket of GCC currencies, just as before the euro was conjured into being, the European Currency Unit (ECU) was long used as a nominal medium of exchange.

The Customs Union is now all but complete. The coordination of taxation systems, accounting standards and civil legislation is all work in progress. The interoperability of more mundane items such as professional qualifications, insurance certificates and identity documents is following as sure as night follows day. Much of this work is being undertaken by officials who are beavering away unseen. The fruits of their efforts will however be very obvious, when they emerge.

The most visible at present is undoubtedly the new $15 billion GCC railway network. More than 2,000 kilometers long, it is running from Kuwait, through the Kingdom with a causeway link to Bahrain, then on to Qatar, the UAE and Oman. By 2020, goods and people will be moving around the GCC on fast and efficient rail services. Even more than the network of highways that currently links member states, the railway system will be a high profile achievement. It will be a monument to the iron bonds of friendship and mutual interest that are drawing the GCC ever closer together.