Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf

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مجلس التعاون لدول الخليج العربية
Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (CCASG)
Logo
Map indicating CCASG members
Official languages Arabic
Type Trade bloc
Membership Arab states of the Persian Gulf (6)
Leaders
 -  Secretary-General Abdul Rahman ibn Hamad al-Attiyah
Establishment
 -  As the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)
May 25, 1981 
Population
 -   estimate 40,338,196[1] 
GDP (nominal)  estimate
 -  Total $1,103,235 million 
 -  Per capita $22,083 
Currency see footnote 1
Website
http://www.gcc-sg.org/
1 Common currency planned for introduction in 2010.
Present currencies (ISO 4217 codes in brackets):
Bahraini dinar (BHD) • Kuwaiti dinar (KWD) • Omani rial (OMR) • Qatari riyal (QAR) • Saudi riyal (SAR) • UAE dirham (AED)

The Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (CCASG; Arabic: مجلس التعاون لدول الخليج العربية‎), also known as the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC; مجلس التعاون الخليجي) is a trade bloc involving the six Arab states of the Persian Gulf with many economic and social objectives.

Contents

[edit] History

Created on May 25, 1981, the 630-million-acre (2,500,000 km2) Council comprises the Persian Gulf states of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The unified economic agreement between the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council was signed on November 11, 1981 in Riyadh. These countries are often referred to as The GCC States.

Not all of the countries neighboring the Persian Gulf are members of the council. Iran and Iraq are currently excluded although both nations have a coastline on the Persian Gulf. The associate membership of Iraq in certain GCC-related institutions was discontinued after the invasion of Kuwait.[2] The GCC States have announced that they support the Document of The International Compact with Iraq that was adopted at Sharm El-Sheikh on 4-5 May 2007. It calls for regional economic integration with the neighboring states but there is no prospect of Iraqi accession to the GCC.[3]

Yemen is (currently) in negotiations for GCC membership, and hopes to join by 2016.[4]. The GCC has already approved Yemen's accession to the GCC Standardization Authority, Gulf Organization for Industrial Consultancy, GCC Auditing and Accounting Authority, Gulf Radio and TV Authority, The GCC Council of Health Ministers, The GCC Education and Training Bureau, The GCC Council of Labor & and Social Affairs Ministers, and The Gulf Cup Football Tournament. The Council issued directives that all the necessary legal measures be taken so that Yemen would have the same rights and obligations of GCC member states in those institutions.[5] There is, however, strong resitance to full Yemeni membership amongst most GCC states, due to the country's poverty, large population, and different system of government.

The GCC Patent Office was approved in 1992 and established soon after[6].

A GCC common market was launched on January 1, 2008.[7] The common market grants national treatment to all GCC firms and citizens in any other GCC country, and in doing so removes all barriers to cross country investment and services trade. A customs union was declared in 2003, but practical implementation has lagged behind. Indeed, shortly afterwards, Bahrain concluded a separate Free Trade Agreement with the USA, in effect cutting through the GCC's agreement, and causing much friction.

The GCC members and Yemen are also members of the Greater Arab Free Trade Area (GAFTA). However, this is unlikely to significantly affect the agenda of the GCC as it has a more aggressive timetable than GAFTA and is seeking greater integration.

[edit] Key Indicators

Name Capital Population Area (km²) GDP (mil. US$) Per capita (US$) Currency
 Bahrain Manama 1,046,814 716 15,354 23,604 Bahrain Dinar
 Qatar Doha 1,307,229 11,437 52,722 80,870 Qatari Riyal
 Kuwait Kuwait City 2,460,000 17,818 95,924 39,300 Kuwaiti Dinar
 Oman Muscat 2,534,000 309,500 35,990 19,879 Omani Riyal
 Saudi Arabia Riyadh 26,417,599 2,240,000 572,200 21,200 Saudi Riyal
 United Arab Emirates Abu Dhabi 4,588,697 83,600 163,296 55,200 UAE Dirham

[edit] Main objectives

Among the stated objectives are:

  • formulating similar regulations in various fields such as economy, finance, trade, customs, tourism, legislation, and administration;
  • fostering scientific and technical progress in industry, mining, agriculture, water and animal resources;
  • establishing scientific research centers;
  • setting up joint ventures;
  • encouraging cooperation of the private sector;
  • strengthening ties between their peoples; and
  • establishing a common currency by 2010 [8][9][10][2]. (However, Oman had announced in December 2006 it will not be able to meet the target date and the UAE have announced their withdrawal from the monetary union project in May 2009. This happened immediately after it was announced that the central bank for the monetary union would be located in Riyadh and not in the UAE.) (The name Khaleeji has been proposed as a name for this currency). “If realised, the GCC monetary union would be the second most important supranational monetary union in the world in terms of GDP and population, after the euro area.”[9]

[edit] Economy

For main article see Economy of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf

This area has some of the fastest growing economies in the world, mostly due to a boom in oil and natural gas revenues coupled with a building and investment boom backed by decades of saved petroleum revenues. In an effort to build a tax base and economic foundation before the reserves run out, the UAE's investment arms, including Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, retain over $900 billion in assets. Other regional funds also have several hundred billion dollars.

The region is also an emerging hotspot for events, including the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, Qatar. Doha also submitted an application for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games, although this bid was unsuccessful having recently been dropped from the list of candidate cities.

In 2006, its GDP (nominal) was $717.8 billion (IMF April 2007), led by spectacular growth in United Arab Emirates and Qatar. [11]. In 2007, its GDP (nominal) was $1,022.62 billion (IMF April 2008). IMF predicts its GDP to reach $1,112.076 billion at end of 2008 and $1,210.112 billion at end of 2009. Qatar is expected to overtake top ranked Luxembourg in GDP (nominal) per capita next year for the world's top spot. See List of countries by GDP (nominal) per capita.

Recently, the leaders of the Council have come under fire for doing too little to combat the economic downturn. While GCC countries were among the first hit - and the first to respond to the crisis - their programs have been prone to disparities, and they have placed their region on the brink of even deeper crises. Recovery plans have been criticized for crowding out the private sector, failing to set clear priorities for growth, failing to restore weak consumer and investor confidence, and undermining long-term stability.[12]

[edit] Secretaries-General

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ [1] wikipedia. Retrieved 2008.
  2. ^ see GCC statement on Media Cooperation
  3. ^ see Political Affairs
  4. ^ "Yemen hopeful to join GCC in 2016". Yemen Times. December 19, 2006. http://yementimes.com/article.shtml?i=905&p=local&a=7. Retrieved on 2007-04-07. 
  5. ^ see The Closing Statement of the Twenty Second Session GCC The Final Communiqué of The 29th Session
  6. ^ "GCC Patent Office page of the GCC website". http://www.gcc-sg.org/eng/index.php?action=Sec-Show&ID=62&W2SID=3439. Retrieved on 2008-02-12. 
  7. ^ Arab Times :: GCC states to launch joint market today
  8. ^ [|Khan, Mohsin S.] (April 2009) (PDF), The GCC Monetary Union: Choice of Exchange Rate Regime, Washington DC, USA: Peterson Institute for International Economics, http://www.iie.com/publications/wp/wp09-1.pdf, retrieved on 2009-05-11 
  9. ^ a b [|Sturm, Michael]; [|Siegfried, Nikolaus] (June 2005) (PDF), Regional Monetary Integration in the Member States of the Gulf Cooperation Council, Frankfurt am Main, Germany: European Central Bank, Occasional Paper Series, No. 31, ISSN 1607-1484, http://www.ecb.int/pub/pdf/scpops/ecbocp31.pdf, retrieved on 2009-05-11 
  10. ^ [|Abed, George T.]; [|Erbas, S. Nuri]; Guerami, Behrouz (April 1, 2003) (PDF), The GCC Monetary Union: Some Considerations for the Exchange Rate Regime, Washington DC, USA: International Monetary Fund (IMF), Working Paper No. 03/66, ISSN 1934-7073, http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.cfm?sk=16173.0, retrieved on 2009-05-11 
  11. ^ See references in List of countries by GDP (nominal)
  12. ^ Arab Countries Stumble in the Face of Growing Economic Crisis, http://carnegieendowment.org/publications/index.cfm?fa=view&id=23120&prog=zgp&proj=zie,zme
  13. ^ "Clip No. 426: excerpts from an interview with the former Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council Abdallah Bishara". TV Monitor Project, MEMRI. December 12, 2004. http://www.memritv.org/Transcript.asp?P1=426. Retrieved on 2007-04-07. 

[edit] External links


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