GCC calls to boost military, security cooperation
Asked about mediation efforts, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said they were ongoing but better conducted away from the spotlight.
A senior regional official said Kuwait recently was working “extremely hard to come up with reconciliation, supported by the United States”.
After the communique was read out, Sheikh Sabah commended the call for unity.
Asked about Lebanon, Prince Faisal said the Mediterranean state’s stability was important to Saudi Arabia.
He said he would not “pre-judge” Riyadh’s actions at an international conference in France on Wednesday and called to support Lebanon as it grapples with a political impasse and the worst economic crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war.
The communique, read by GCC General Secretary Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, called for finalising legislation for financial and monetary unity by 2025. It also called for boosting military and security cooperation to maintain regional security.
“The Gulf region must unite in the face of Iran’s aggression and the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council must secure themselves in the face of ballistic missile attacks,” Saudi King Salman said in his opening remarks.
King Salman, who greeted Gulf
leaders as they arrived for the summit, was shown sharing a traditional coffee with the Qatari prime minister minutes before the meeting began.
Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani acknowledged last week that there have been talks with Saudi Arabia.
“We hope that these talks will lead
to a progress where we can send an end for the crisis,” he said at the Mediterranean Dialogue Forum in Rome.
Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa says resolution to the crisis ultimately lies with Qatar.
“It’s in the hands of Qatar to make sure that all our worries that led to us to boycott them are dealt with from
their part,” he said in remarks at the Manama Dialogue last month.
At a preparatory meeting on Monday, Gulf foreign ministers approved the nomination of former Kuwaiti finance minister Nayef Al Hajraf as the next secretary-general of the GCC.
His term will begin in April 2020 following the end of Al Zayani’s term.