Biblenuggetlady
December 5th, 2007, 03:31 PM
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=104313&d=5&m=12&y=2007
DOHA, 5 December 2007 — Leaders of the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) yesterday announced their plan to launch a common market in January 2008 and a currency union by 2010 in addition to maintaining their currencies’ peg to the US dollar.
GCC Secretary-General Abdul Rahman Al-Attiyah called the decision to create the common market “a historic declaration.” He told reporters, “We want to have equal opportunities for all GCC citizens.” These include the right to work in all government and private institutions in the GCC, buy and sell real estate and make other investments, move freely between the countries, and receive education and health benefits, the communiqué said.
The highlight of the two-day gathering was the presence of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the first Iranian president to attend a GCC summit. He offered his GCC neighbors a regional security pact and a 12-point cooperation plan, including free trade and joint investments in oil and gas.
Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad ibn Jassem Al-Thani welcomed Ahmedinejad’s proposals and hoped that they would open a new era in GCC-Iran relations.
“We have to collaborate with all our neighbors and not be dragged into (following) foreign strategies. Iran also serves its interests by taking the hand of those countries that extend a friendly hand to it,” the premier said. “If we are pulled apart by foreign strategies, it will be dangerous,” Hamad said, adding that Qatar had no contact with the International Atomic Energy Agency over Iran’s nuclear-enrichment program.
In the summit’s opening session Ahmadinejad stressed that the common heritage of Arabs and Persians made their partnership and friendship “inseparable.” He also warned against foreign intervention, a reference to the growing US presence in the region.
The leaders of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait and the UAE reiterated the GCC position of demanding a “peaceful solution” to Iran’s nuclear crisis, while it exhorted Tehran to “pursue dialogue with the international community.”
At the news conference, Sheikh Hamad was asked whether the findings of a US intelligence report meant the crisis over Iran’s nuclear work was over. “We don’t have information apart from what we have from the (International) Atomic Energy Agency and our brothers in Iran that this program is peaceful and we hope the program is peaceful,” he said.
The communique said GCC leaders were waiting for “positive steps” to follow a recent Middle East peace conference in the United States aimed at jumpstarting Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.
Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad opened the two-day gathering urging dialogue among the Gulf states and said the United Nations was the place to resolve regional disputes. “While we realize that the crises in the region have their reasons and backgrounds, and many of them are clear to us, we hope that all those who are concerned with regional and international issues reconsider their positions before it is too late,” said the emir.
The decision was effectively made ahead of the summit, when GCC foreign and finance ministers decided to stick to the date despite worries over high inflation. Leaders also decided to keep pegging their currencies to the sliding dollar, and not follow Kuwait’s move in linking its dinar to a basket of currencies.
“Right now, the policy is to stick to the dollar ... The GCC is concerned about the (weakening) dollar. No decision on the currency for the moment,” Sheikh Hamad said. The premier admitted that any talks on how to cope with the dollar’s decline would have been held in secret. “If they discussed something, we will not tell you...There is a market and you can’t scare the market,” he told reporters.
Since then, many analysts have suspected that the UAE would eventually change currency policy, with or without a consensus among other Gulf countries. Saudi Arabia, however, has strongly resisted pressure to drop the dollar peg.
“There is no change in the policy of the kingdom. And I think that applies to other Gulf states as well,” Saudi Finance Minister Ibrahim Al-Assaf told Al-Arabiya channel, warning markets against betting on a change in exchange rate regimes.
“Rumors sometimes provoke those hungry for speculation but as was the case in the past, those who indulge in speculation always lose,” the minister observed.
DOHA, 5 December 2007 — Leaders of the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) yesterday announced their plan to launch a common market in January 2008 and a currency union by 2010 in addition to maintaining their currencies’ peg to the US dollar.
GCC Secretary-General Abdul Rahman Al-Attiyah called the decision to create the common market “a historic declaration.” He told reporters, “We want to have equal opportunities for all GCC citizens.” These include the right to work in all government and private institutions in the GCC, buy and sell real estate and make other investments, move freely between the countries, and receive education and health benefits, the communiqué said.
The highlight of the two-day gathering was the presence of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the first Iranian president to attend a GCC summit. He offered his GCC neighbors a regional security pact and a 12-point cooperation plan, including free trade and joint investments in oil and gas.
Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad ibn Jassem Al-Thani welcomed Ahmedinejad’s proposals and hoped that they would open a new era in GCC-Iran relations.
“We have to collaborate with all our neighbors and not be dragged into (following) foreign strategies. Iran also serves its interests by taking the hand of those countries that extend a friendly hand to it,” the premier said. “If we are pulled apart by foreign strategies, it will be dangerous,” Hamad said, adding that Qatar had no contact with the International Atomic Energy Agency over Iran’s nuclear-enrichment program.
In the summit’s opening session Ahmadinejad stressed that the common heritage of Arabs and Persians made their partnership and friendship “inseparable.” He also warned against foreign intervention, a reference to the growing US presence in the region.
The leaders of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait and the UAE reiterated the GCC position of demanding a “peaceful solution” to Iran’s nuclear crisis, while it exhorted Tehran to “pursue dialogue with the international community.”
At the news conference, Sheikh Hamad was asked whether the findings of a US intelligence report meant the crisis over Iran’s nuclear work was over. “We don’t have information apart from what we have from the (International) Atomic Energy Agency and our brothers in Iran that this program is peaceful and we hope the program is peaceful,” he said.
The communique said GCC leaders were waiting for “positive steps” to follow a recent Middle East peace conference in the United States aimed at jumpstarting Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.
Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad opened the two-day gathering urging dialogue among the Gulf states and said the United Nations was the place to resolve regional disputes. “While we realize that the crises in the region have their reasons and backgrounds, and many of them are clear to us, we hope that all those who are concerned with regional and international issues reconsider their positions before it is too late,” said the emir.
The decision was effectively made ahead of the summit, when GCC foreign and finance ministers decided to stick to the date despite worries over high inflation. Leaders also decided to keep pegging their currencies to the sliding dollar, and not follow Kuwait’s move in linking its dinar to a basket of currencies.
“Right now, the policy is to stick to the dollar ... The GCC is concerned about the (weakening) dollar. No decision on the currency for the moment,” Sheikh Hamad said. The premier admitted that any talks on how to cope with the dollar’s decline would have been held in secret. “If they discussed something, we will not tell you...There is a market and you can’t scare the market,” he told reporters.
Since then, many analysts have suspected that the UAE would eventually change currency policy, with or without a consensus among other Gulf countries. Saudi Arabia, however, has strongly resisted pressure to drop the dollar peg.
“There is no change in the policy of the kingdom. And I think that applies to other Gulf states as well,” Saudi Finance Minister Ibrahim Al-Assaf told Al-Arabiya channel, warning markets against betting on a change in exchange rate regimes.
“Rumors sometimes provoke those hungry for speculation but as was the case in the past, those who indulge in speculation always lose,” the minister observed.