If anyone has followed the work of the General Secretariat of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and read the report submitted at the GCC summit in Kuwait in 2013, they would be shocked by the difference between reality and what is written on paper.
Thirty-three years after the GCC was established to promote multi-level cooperation between the six member states, it is the right of Gulf citizens to ask a number of questions about the Council’s progress. What has it achieved so far?
I wish to ask all employees at the Council’s General Secretariat as well as the foreign ministries of each GCC country, hoping they will forgive me for this: What are the achievements you have mentioned in your report presented at the Kuwait Gulf summit in 2013?
You dealt with the subject of UAE islands occupied by Iran and considered that an achievement! You also discussed Iran’s nuclear weapons programme in your concluding remarks; do you really think that it is an accomplishment or is it actually a sacred national duty to strive for your demands to be attained? On a daily basis, you have been talking about the situation in Syria. Do you believe your criticism of Hezbollah’s military intervention in Syrian affairs is an accomplishment?
You also welcomed and blessed the election of a president for the Syrian National Coalition opposing the Bashar Al Assad regime and the selection of Tamam Salam as Lebanese president, expressed confidence that the Egyptians will choose their new government wisely, and cheered the outcome of a donors’ conference to help Sudan out of its financial crisis. Do you really consider these GCC achievements?
The report also mentions developments in Myanmar, Central African Republic and Mali, to name a few. Do you really consider that an achievement, or are you simply reminding yourselves of your foreign interests? The truth is these things were listed under ‘Achievements’.
At the military level, I would like to question your statement in 2013 that the Council had adopted the joint defence agreement. Do you think that signing such an accord after 33 years is something to be highlighted? And is the approval by the Supreme Council of the defence strategy an achievement when the lands, skies and seas of GCC countries host foreign military bases?
The Peninsula Shield, which was mentioned as an accomplishment in your statement is a sorry force because it does not have the doctrine of defensive combat or uniform weapons to use in battle. Iran, 33 years after the establishment of its Islamic Republic, possesses weapons of mass destruction and is working on improving its nuclear weapons programme. It has also expanded its influence from eastern Afghanistan to the east of the Mediterranean through Iraq, Syria and the northern Caucasus and up to the south of the Arabian Peninsula.
During this period, Iran has developed its missiles and their range easily covers the entire Arab world, Eastern Europe and even Pakistan. It also has an advanced naval force and possesses more than three submarines. These, gentlemen, are achievements, and what you are talking about are no more than words on paper that are far from being accomplishments.
In the area of security, your document referred to 31 items. I will not go over each one of them and would rather dwell on a few. Having annually organised a week for traffic awareness is listed as an achievement, as is the use of ID cards to travel between member states.
With regard to the ID card, what is the difference between its holder and the holder of a passport? The answer is there is no difference! They both have to stand in front of the immigration officer to have their document examined. All security information in terms of the records of the ministries of interior is on the card as well as in the passport. Then what difference does it make if someone uses their ID card or passport, and how does that count as an achievement?
In my opinion, the identity papers should be checked at the starting point only and not at the destination, or vice versa, as is the case in the European Union; that would be considered an accomplishment.
Concerning the war on terror and combating extremism, it is an international requirement and has nothing to do with achievements.
In the economic sphere, I would mainly concentrate on energy, which is my favourite subject. For example, is all oil production in the UAE unified and under a single authority or is Abu Dhabi on its own a member of OPEC and the Arab OAPEC? Are the prices of energy-related products unified? Where is the unified currency like the euro? And is there an organisation for GCC public finances or a central bank?
These are matters that need to be discussed. Therefore, I request those in charge of the GCC General Secretariat not to exaggerate the Council’s accomplishments because the Gulf citizen is well aware of his surroundings, having learned from the successes and failures of other nations.
There is no significant achievement attributable to the GCC except that it still exists. As an exception, we could say that the Council did well in Kuwait but failed in Iraq, Yemen, Syria, and Libya. Iran, meanwhile, has achieved real progress in all areas, even in breaking the economic embargo that was imposed on it internationally. Last but not least, those who bow before God, He will elevate their status.
