(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) The 51st meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Trade Cooperation Committee constitutes a new step toward reactivating the bloc's joint action, Qatar's Minister of Economy and Commerce Sheikh Ahmad bin Jassim Al Thani has said.
Sheikh Ahmad told the opening session that the meeting which started in Qatar on Thursday would seek to give impetus to development efforts in a bid to fulfil expectations of the GCC people through further integration and synergy, also for the good of the entire region.
Presiding over the meeting that brings together ministers of commerce from the GCC member states, Sheikh Ahmad stressed the significance of boosting pan-GCC economic and trade ties as a "guarantee for consolidating the GCC joint action, boosting development efforts and overcoming challenges." For his part, GCC Secretary General Abdullatif Al-Zayani pointed to the strenuous efforts by the specialized committees that increased gains of the GCC citizens from the bloc's common market.
He said that the GCC citizens moving among the member states through the period 1995-2013 jumped from 4.5 million to about 18 million. By the same token, companies whose shares are accessible to all GCC peoples exceeded 600 joint stock ones with a capital worth USD 22 billion, and 290,000 shareholders.
By virtue of these positive signals and other achievements of integration, the GCC is going through a new economic reality embodied in decisions of GCC economic citizenship and common market that embraces 47 million people and GDP of about USD 1.6 trillion, besides foreign trade worth USD 1.4 trillion, Al-Zayani told the session.
He stressed directives by the GCC leaders on providing a favorable comprehensive legislative environment for realizing economic integration among the member states.
The ministerial meeting discusses a host of topics and recommendations submitted by the GCC trade ministries undersecretaries who held a preparatory meeting earlier this month.
These are topped with obstacles of pan-GCC trade, GCC Trade Mark Law, a Secretariat memorandum on the 16th GCC fair, the executive rule of the bloc's trade mark law, and a guidebook on measures and models of economic activities.
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