Gulf union may go ahead sans Oman
Proposal to upgrade cooperative framework on GCC summit agenda
Aunion between the states comprising the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) will be on the table at the summit to be hosted by Bahrain next month.
However, the Gulf union could be launched without the participation of Oman, a founding member of the GCC alongside Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
“The proposal to launch the Gulf union will be on the agenda of the summit that bring together the leaders of the GCC,” said Ganem Al Bu Ainain, Bahrain’s Minister of Parliament Affairs.
“The position of Oman visa-vis the union is well known and respected, but this should not freeze us. There might be a Gulf union and a Gulf Cooperation Council for those interested in the formulas. However, the Gulf union, if it is established, will be much more advanced than the cooperation council. This means that the countries that join the union through political and economic measures will be in a more advanced status than those limited to cooperation,” Bu Ainain told London-based Al Hayat daily.
“There is no doubt that Oman’s wisdom is indispensable, but we must not stand at one point, and I think there are always solutions that can lead us to the union,” Bu Ainain said.
In December 2011, the then king of Saudi Arabia Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz called on the GCC states to move from the phase of cooperation towards a union within a single entity.
King Abdullah’s call at the GCC summit was welcomed by the six member states, but some of them requested more time to study the finer details.
Immense enthusiasm
Officials in Riyadh and Manama in particular, have been openly enthusiastic about the union and Bahrain has often said that it is ready to join the union. However, Oman expressed reservations about the union and in December 2013 its foreign minister bluntly rejected it.
Bu Ainain told Al Hayat that as the Bahraini member of the committee tasked with implementing GCC summit decisions, he sensed “great enthusiasm for the union from the other Gulf members”.