Manama: The launch of a pan-Gulf radio station will top the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) information ministers’ meeting in Manama next month.

“The radio station will be a new bridge that links the six member countries and a consolidation of the one spirit within the GCC,” Ali Al Rumaihi, the president of the Information Affairs Authority (IAA) in Bahrain, said.

The GCC, established in 1981 in Abu Dhabi, brings together Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Officials in Bahrain have been talking about launching a Gulf radio station, “This is the Arabian Gulf” in October to reinforce ties between the member countries and support local media.

“The Gulf station will draw on a wealth of archives from each of the member countries that includes recordings and programmes,” Al Rumaihi said. “We hope to host the radio station in Bahrain as well as the union of Gulf news agencies that we want to launch. Both projects are within an ambitious media plan that serves the objectives and aspirations of the GCC leaders in moving from the phase of cooperation to the phase of unity,” Al Rumaihi said.

Other items on the agenda of the ministers include coordination between radio and television stations, news agencies and the foreign media, he added.

“The media have a crucial role in preserving and highlighting the Islamic and Arab identity of the Gulf states as well as their achievements and their efforts to promote security and stability and to confront negative campaigns targeting them,” he said.

Yusuf Mustafa, the Kuwaiti Information Ministry’s Assistant Undersecretary for Radio Affairs, said earlier that the new radio station would contribute to preserving traditions, culture, art and literature of the six countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

Mustafa was speaking after a meeting of senior radio officials in GCC countries.

He said participants approved initial launch of the Bahrain-based radio station through Bahrain Radio by end of this month.

The GCC countries will assess the new radio station for three months, said Mustafa, and engineers would determine the frequency modulation (FM) in every country.

Mustafa, meanwhile, said Kuwait Radio gave Bahrain Radio a copy of its programmes for non-Arab listeners in English, Urdu, Filipino and Persian languages.

- with inputs from KUNA