(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Initiatives are under way to make sure that one GCC country treats the citizens of the other as its own in all matters including health, education, and property and business ownership.
A two-day workshop of the youth is on in Kuwait and its title is 'The GCC and Mawatina'. Mawatina in Arabic means citizenship. Its concept is that GCC states treat citizens of member-countries as equals in all matters and set up a common market and give preference in jobs to GCC nationals.
The concept is old and meetings of officials and the youth from the GCC states on how to speed up the efforts of regional integration take place from time to time.
The basic idea is to reduce unemployment among the youth in the region by encouraging integration efforts whereby member-states provide job opportunities to locals. Qatar News Agency (QNA) reported yesterday that experts and advisers from the GCC secretariat-general will tell the workshop how far the project of regional integration (Mawatina) has reached.
The objective is to seek the views of the youth on how to best to achieve regional integration as enshrined within the framework of 'Mawatina'. According to Kuwait News Agency (Kuna), the GCC Secretary-General Abdul Lateef Al Zayani said that the objectives of 'Mawatina' would be achieved with the setting up of the GCC common market. Free movement within the GCC region, freedom to choose place of residence in any GCC state and the right to employment in all member-states are the essential aspects of the concept of 'Mawatina'.
Al Zayani said that there are 25,000 GCC citizens employed in member-states that are not their home countries. They are the beneficiary of pension schemes in those countries. The number of GCC banks with cross-border branches (with branches in member-states) has reached 26 from just a few some years ago.
GCC countries have provided business and industrial loans to nationals of other GCC countries to the extent of a staggering $1.5bn, said the secretary-general.
Similarly, there are 100,000 GCC citizens who own property in other GCC states. There are over 40,000 GCC students enrolled in other Gulf states. The secretary-general said that trade among GCC states had reached a record $100bn annually.
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