Bonds of history and culture cannot be easily broken

Dubai: When the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) was established almost three decades ago, many thought it would suffer the same fate as other failed experiments in Arab unity.

The doubters failed to realise that the countries of the region are linked through ties of history, culture and common interest.

Gulf countries also realised that together they were an unmatchable power.

The political will of the leaders, especially the Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the founding father of the UAE federation, was unbeatable.

When Shaikh Zayed met with his brothers, the rulers of the emirates, and agreed with them to establish the federation, there were also many people who thought the experiment would fail.

Yet that did not curb the will of the brave leaders or stop them from embarking on this journey of unity. And sure enough, the federation is still going strong, despite all initial doubts.

The GCC leaders will meet in Kuwait today for the 30th GCC Summit, which takes place at a significant time in history and an extremely critical stage for the Arab and Islamic nations.

Arab-Israeli conflict

This is simply because international developments, especially with regard to the main issue of all Arabs, the Arab-Israeli conflict, are quite serious.

Yet again, a US administration is attempting to find a solution to this struggle, which has been ongoing for more than 60 years.

The Palestinian people need a permanent solution and countries of the region also need to be settled, while the world's superpower, which also suffers from this conflict, is seeking a solution.

This solution can either take the form of two states, which is ideal in the long run, or creating one secular state on a European model, such as Turkey, which created an example of co-existence between various national and religious groups.

Coming at this time, the GCC Summit is of added importance, regionally and internationally.

At this critical stage, certain members of the GCC should not seek to pressure others.

Financial woes

Here a few issues come to mind, such as the global financial crisis, which affected the economies of GCC countries, as it did all other countries around the world, as well as some border issues that resurfaced between GCC countries.

Nevertheless, the GCC Summit is a time for us to be happy and attract the attention of the entire world.

We are the ones who gave the world an exceptional model of development: Dubai.

There were many forces that worked against the rising model of Dubai. They had their pens ready to attack Dubai and the UAE simply because they could not comprehend that an Arab country could achieve this rate of development and create a new model, not reliant on oil revenues.

These powers became obsessed with Dubai because the rise of the city was not convenient for them. With time, their dissatisfaction became a typhoon that many countries became caught up in, especially the strategic enemies of the Arab nation.

Dubai's progress

The leader of Dubai's development, His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, always stressed that will and passion could create a new development model.

He also stressed that vision must be accompanied by hard work and tremendous efforts to turn it into a reality.

Thus, Dubai became the real challenge that older and more prominent cities had to face.

These cities were business and economy hubs, and many could not believe it was possible for Arabs, or any other Arab state, to attract global attention and occupy a prominent position among the world's financial hubs.

What the entire world must realise is that GCC countries have the largest oil reserves, and thus control the world's energy resources.

By controlling the lion's share of the world's energy, we rule the world from east to west, which the political leadership of the GCC is certainly aware of.

We also know that no superpower can overlook this region anymore, because ignoring the most important region in the world is simply not an option.

- Dr Mohammad Abdullah Al Mutawa is a professor of sociology at UAE University in Al Ain.