Meltdown tops GCC summit agenda

Muscat/Riyadh: The fallouts of the global financial crisis, the GCC monetary union and the unified railways are expected to dominate the two-day 29th Gulf Summit, starting in Muscat on Monday.

The summit will also look into falling oil prices and sea piracy in the Gulf of Aden, Gulf officials told Gulf News.

The summit will be "a new start in GCC cooperation in all sectors," GCC Secretary General Abdul Rahman Bin Hamad Al Attiyah, told reporters at the end of the second meeting of the GCC Parliamentary representatives in Muscat recently.

Several leading GCC officials and economic analysts expressed confidence that the six GCC states, which are among the least affected countries of the financial crisis, would easily overcome the effect of meltdown through the year 2009, thanks to the huge surplus of oil revenues they had earned in the recent past.

Speaking yesterday to the London-based Al Hayat newspaper, Al Attiyah said that the financial crisis will be on top of the agenda of the summit. "The leaders would review the topic and underline the need for working out a common approach in tackling the issue," he said.

Gulf leaders are also expected to approve the final draft of a monetary union agreement, as well as the charter outlining the powers of a common monetary council that would become the region's central bank. All Gulf states except Oman are planning to launch a single currency by a 2010 deadline.

The other important subject to be discussed is of employment market in the region and how to tackle the problems of unemployment among the GCC youth, Al Attiyah said.

UAE Delegation: Khalifa leaves on Monday

President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan will leave on Monday for Muscat to participate in the 29th GCC Summit, which will be held on December 29 and 30.

The President will be accompanied by a high-level delegation that will include Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai Crown Prince, Lieutenant General Shaikh Saif Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Interior Minister, Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Presidential Affairs, and Shaikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Foreign Minister.

The delegation will also include Obaid Humaid Al Tayer, Minister of State for Financial Affairs, Ahmad Juma Al Za'abi, Deputy Minister for Presidential Affairs, and Mohammad Ali Al Usaimi, UAE Ambassador to Oman.

- WAM