Manama: The US has reportedly conveyed a request from Yemen to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) that it consider the country for full council membership, a Kuwaiti daily reported.
Yemen chose to seek US mediation ahead of the next GCC summit, scheduled to take place at the end of this year in Abu Dhabi, so that its application might be prioritised on the meeting agenda.
The early request was also to enable the member nations to discuss and consider the matter beforehand, Kuwait Times reported, quoting a "well-informed" source without naming them.
The GCC, established in 1981, includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
The source said Washington supported the plea, but the issue was unlikely to be discussed at the December summit.
Some member states have flatly rejected — from the council's beginning — to consider allowing Yemen to join, the source said.
The issue had been discussed at previous summits. However, there had been an invariable refusal to grant Yemen full membership.
"The GCC states only agreed to Yemen's membership of the GCC's social, educational, sports and cultural committees, as well as economically supporting it," the source added.
Union not on agenda
The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has no plans to turn into a Gulf union, the GCC head has said.
"This plan is not on the agenda of the leaders of the bloc when they meet at the next summit in Abu Dhabi," Abdul Rahman Al Attiyah was quoted as saying by Kuwaiti daily Al Jareeda.
The foreign ministers met in Manama on Tuesday to discuss Bahrain's vision to improve the performance of the six-member alliance formed in 1981 in Abu Dhabi. The GCC supported Yemen's territorial integrity and stability and emphasised the need for its development through the 2006 London financial commitments, Al Atiyyah said.
