The leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have endorsed an agreement aimed at promoting collective security among the six member states, but a decision on the much-talked about Gulf union is being delayed.

The union is an ambitious move, but the question is, is it realistic? The parameters of such a merger need to be clearly thought out and articulated before concrete steps are taken. Today, the citizens across GCC countries are closer to each other than ever before.

A union will enhance these ties further, but the parameters must be studied in order to avoid mistakes of the past, especially with the current track record of implementing various projects — the GCC monetary and customs union being cases in point. Political cohesion therefore is the key.

Closer ties between nations are definitely the order of the day, but a clear and practical form of communication should be agreed to, in order to avoid the repercussions that failure could bring — the worst case scenario being the collapse of the union itself.

The moot question in any alliance between nations, or groups of nations, is how will the common man benefit from such a partnership. The benefits do not just come from unified defence and security policies alone. Rather, cooperation on uniform economic fiscal policies, customs policies and unified banking and financial services guidelines will help the people reap a rich harvest. These changes are bound to come from economic union, but the driving force for success is unified political will.

A combined force of six nations, controlling almost 45 per cent of the world's oil reserves, standing united on socio, economic and political fronts, can also send quite a strong message to anti-establishment forces who seek to destabilise the region for their own gains.