KUWAIT CITY: Gulf Arab states will hold a summit this week to discuss a controversial proposal to form an EU-like union at a time of regional turmoil and fresh Iranian overtures.
Saudi Arabia and other oil-rich monarchies, already rattled by the turmoil unleashed by the 2011 Arab Spring, fear a landmark nuclear agreement reached last month could herald a wider rapprochement between the West and their regional rival Iran.
But a proposal to develop the Gulf Cooperation Council into a fully-fledged union has proven divisive, with Oman threatening to leave the GCC if the idea is approved. The group also includes Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.
“The summit is held amid extremely sensitive and delicate situations that require member states to study the consequences for the GCC,” Secretary General Abdullatif Al Zayani said ahead of the two-day summit, which opens tomorrow in Kuwait.
The summit comes a week after Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif visited four GCC states to reassure them over the interim nuclear agreement, which would freeze some of Iran’s nuclear activities in exchange for some sanctions relief.
Relations with Iran “are entering a new space different from the past. A space that is extremely positive and constructive,” Kuwait’s foreign ministry undersecretary Khaled Al Jarallah told reporters after Zarif’s visit.
But Zarif did not visit the most important GCC member, Saudi Arabia, although he said he plans to do so in the future.
“Iran is trying to exploit the momentum generated from the nuclear deal and Saudi Arabia is trying to repulse this push,” Saudi political analyst Khaled Al Dakhil said. “Tehran is trying to create a wedge between Saudi Arabia and some GCC states.”
Oman opposes Union
The Gulf states — which sit on 40 percent of global proven oil reserves and a quarter of the world’s natural gas — largely dodged the pro-democracy protests that erupted nearly three years ago.
As the Arab Spring gathered pace Saudi Arabia in 2011 proposed creating a Gulf union, though it never spelled out what that would entail. Bahrain was an early supporter of the idea, while other members expressed reservations. Kuwait and Qatar have since come around to the proposal, while the UAE has not yet adopted a firm position.
But Foreign Minister Yusuf bin Alawi of Oman — which enjoys closer ties to Iran — on Saturday expressed opposition to the idea.
“We will not prevent a union, but if it happens we will not be part of it... we will simply withdraw” from the new body, he said.
AFP
