GCC States Seek to End Customs Union Rifts

A meeting of the foreign and finance ministers of six GCC countries in early September is expected to sort out the differences standing in the way of the final implementation of the GCC customs union. The final declaration to implement the union is to be made in the GCC summit to be held at the end of the year. The ministerial meeting, which will be convened in line with the recommendations of the GCC summit in Kuwait last December, and the consultative summit held in Riyadh in May, will finalize the preparations for the customs union, GCC Secretary-General Abdul Rahman Al-Attiyah said in Riyadh on Wednesday.

“The ministers and the joint committees on financial, commercial, economic and industrial cooperation will work out the blueprint of the customs union treaty which will terminate the customs offices on the joint borders of member countries,” Al-Attiyah said. The ministerial meeting will also hammer out a mechanism on the distribution of the customs revenue and protectionist measures in order to simplify the free movement of goods among the GCC countries, the secretary-general said.

The final goal of the customs union is to remove the customs and non-customs hurdles in the way of the movement of goods between the member countries but still continuing the security monitoring. The free movement of goods will, undoubtedly, serve the interests of the people in the GCC countries, he said. “The free movement of commodities will ensure the supply of goods at competitive prices in local markets apart from increasing the GCC’s trade with the outside world,” he added.

The full-fledged union will also strengthen the status of GCC in the World Trade Organization, he said. The ministers will also discuss ways to speed up the ongoing discussions with other economic blocs. He hoped that the final implementation of the union would bolster the economic position of the GCC amidst other countries and remove all obstacles that impede progress in the GCC states. Al-Attiyah hoped that the ministers would reach at decisions that could be endorsed by the GCC summit in Abu-Dhabi summit in December. - Arab News