Summit expected to produce 'decisions and achievements'

Schools were closed, streets were cordoned off and residents were asked not to leave the house without their ID cards as part of the heightened security measures in place for the 24th Annual GCC Summit, which was scheduled to open this afternoon in Kuwait.

Great hopes are pinned on this year's summit, which is expected to produce concrete decisions on the region's economy, education and the fight against terrorism. As such, the catchphrase of this year's summit is telling: "Kammat Injazat wa Kararat" (Achievements and Decisions).

"There will be quite a few decisions, some of them directed towards the fight against terrorism because it is a problem we are all facing," Sami Al Nassif, Special Advisor to the Kuwaiti Prime Minister, told Gulf News.

"There will also be an emphasis on closer financial cooperation among the six countries, and a move to encourage the adoption of a common currency, which had initially been set for 2010, but we hope to expedite the process and have it by 2008."

Much-debated issues, which will have the greatest impact on the average Gulf resident if they are ratified, include instituting a common currency, a common passport, which will allow Gulf citizens to travel freely in the region, and unified tariff rates.

"No one can predict what will come out of this summit," said Dr John Duke Anthony, President of the Washington-based National Council on US-Arab Relations.

"Two or three things that will happen, because they have always happened, is they will review the progress - or lack of progress - since the last meeting, and rules and regulations and how to implement them more efficiently."

According to Dr Anthony, the question of unifying tariffs in the region is likely to be the trickiest. "Some will lose, others will gain," he said, indicating that compromises would have to be made, and these compromises might carry over into the political arena.

With the capture of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussain, the spectre of Iraq's joining the league of Gulf states has resurfaced.

One Kuwaiti official, who asked not to be named, highlighted the irony of the summit being held in Kuwait right after the fall of Saddam.

"If you remember, the first summit after the end of the Gulf War in 1991 was held in Kuwait as a show of regional solidarity," he said. "This year's summit is the first to be held after the fall of Saddam, and it is taking place - again - in Kuwait."

Though there has been a great deal of talk, the idea of a Saddam-free Iraq joining the Gulf alliance is far-fetched, according to many noted experts and commentators.

"There will not be any discussion of Iraq," Al Nassif told Gulf News. "It is not part of the agenda, and even if it were, it cannot happen because it goes against the laws of our union."

Dr Anthony expounded on the matter: "One of the oldest issues is Iraq's threat to Kuwait. Every year, they have to deal with it, one way or another."

Dr Anthony doubts Iraq - or Yemen and Iran for that matter - will ever join the GCC because of fundamental differences in character and political interests.

Among journalists who have been covering the annual summit for several years, there was some scepticism.

"People in the region usually don't expect much from these summits anymore because they have been disappointed over the years," said Sulman Al Asoussi, Director for Planning and Development at Al Manar Television.

"But this year, in view of all what's happened, there is hope that things will be different."