Gulf central bankers to meet 

(MENAFN - Arab News) The first meeting of the Gulf Central Bank will be held in March this year, said GCC Secretary General Abdul Rahman Al-Attiyah here on Monday.

Al-Attiyah made the announcement during his address at the Saudi and Qatari Businessmen Forum, which was held for the second day on Monday under the patronage of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah.

He also expressed hope for the imminent comeback of the United Arab Emirates to the GCC Monetary Union.

The forum's inaugural function took place on Sunday. Following the inauguration, King Abdullah met visiting businessmen and businesswomen at Yamamah Palace in Riyadh.

The forum was sponsored by the Council of Saudi Chambers of Commerce and Industry and the Qatari Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The Qatari delegation comprised 150 members, which is the largest business team ever to visit the Kingdom. It was reciprocated with an equal number of Saudi businessmen at talks that were held on Monday.

Al-Attiyah said that the first GCC Central Bank meeting, which will be held in the latter part of March this year in Riyadh, would be attended by the governors of Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and the Kingdom's central banks. "They will work out the legislative, institutional and functional procedures of the common bank," the secretary general said.

"We sincerely hope and pray that the United Arab Emirates will rejoin the GCC monetary union and form a formidable group to carry out the uniform monetary policy of GCC member countries," said Al-Attiyah.

He added that the next union meeting will decide on a uniform currency and subsequent meetings will formulate details for its implementation.

Talking on the GCC-EU free trade agreement (FTA), which was stalled in 2008, Al-Attiyah said negotiations would resume since some of the clauses that were problematic would be amended in deference to the wishes of the two parties.

He also said plans are under way to finalize the Gulf rail project. "We are working out details of the rail network connecting all GCC countries," he said, adding that the location of the headquarters of the project would be decided upon later by GCC members.

Commerce and Industry Minister Abdullah Zainal Alireza said that the two countries could open new areas of cooperation to develop bilateral trade, especially in information technology, the manufacture of new products and the offering of new services.

He recalled that bilateral trade between the two countries reached SR6.2 trillion in 2008. He said that during the first half of 2009, 16 new joint venture projects, estimated at SR1.6 billion, were initiated.

The minister requested the delegates form a joint action committee to promote more trade activities that would be of mutual interests.

The delegates also decided to form a joint investment company to promote investments from the two countries. The Saudi-Qatari Joint Business Council will meet at the same venue on Tuesday.

By Md Rasooldeen