Saudi FM urges more GCC unity

Saudi Arabia’s minister of foreign affairs has urged Gulf states to further integrate and unify in a bid to protect each other from common security threats, Arab News reported. Closer co-operation will also allow the GCC to become a powerful economic bloc, Prince Saud Al-Faisal said, with a GDP exceeding US$14 trillion. Speaking at the conference ‘Gulf Youth: From GCC to Gulf Union’, held in Riyadh this week, the minister called for more agreement between individual states. “The shift to the status of union would give greater force in terms of geo-strategic importance and in the domain of global affairs,” he was quoted as saying. “The conference comes at a time where all GCC leaders, decision-makers and think-tanks are generously thinking on finding means to face current challenges at political, social and economic forums and their impact on GCC societies. He added: “All developments in the region, including Iran’s nuclear program and its continued provocation against the GCC, suffering of the Palestinian people and ‘Arab Spring’ fallouts, have led us to think on how to deal with such developments in the best interests of the GCC.”