Leaders of six Gulf monarchies launched a two-day in Muscat, Oman, today vowing to forge ahead with plans to form a joint economic bloc with control over nearly half the world's oil resources.
Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) would endorse a customs union by January 1st 2003, which will unify tariffs at five percent and pave the way to monetary union and a single currency in 2010, delegates said.
The summit, which the king of Saudi Arabia, the emir of Kuwait and the president of the UAE did not attend because of ill-health, also has a strong political agenda.
Afghanistan and tension between India and Pakistan will be discussed as well as the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, relations with Iraq and Iran and the aftermath of the September 11th attacks on the United States.
The Gulf monarchies were looking to set up a fund to aid the reconstruction of Afghanistan and were also expected to call on New Delhi and Islamabad to avoid escalation leading to war.
AFP