Ain-Al-Yaqeen - December 23, 2005

		December 23, 2005

ABU DHABI DECLARATION UNDERLINES THE IMPORTANCE OF BOOSTING SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL RESEARCH, AND SUPPORTING RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS.
SHEIKH KHALIFA BIN ZAYED: "WE SHOULD NOT FORGET THAT THE MAGNITUDE AND TYPE OF CHALLENGES HAVE CHANGED, A MATTER WHICH CALLS FOR MORE EFFORTS SO AS TO PREPARE OUR PEOPLE AND COUNTRIES TO CONFRONT THESE CHALLENGES."

Leaders of the 26th summit of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) released the ''Abu Dhabi Declaration'', which stressed the importance of the development of indigenous human resource in the field of education.

The declaration said due to the political, economic, social, and cultural changes taking place in the region, and in accordance with decisions and statements during previous summits, the 26th summit looked into all issues that were of concern to the GCC member states and people.

It added, humans are the pivotal elements for advancement and for this reason they should be accorded care and interest, adding that the international challenges made it imperative that educational systems should be upgraded to conform with the current information and technology upheavals.

The declaration also said, this coincides with the UN's launching of the program of education for sustainable development (2005-2014), aimed at elevating the status of human societies.

It added that the GCC was aware of the international challenges that can be confronted only through the core development of the educational system, stressing the importance of nationalization of human resources in the field of education so as to maintain traditions and culture while keeping up with modern developments.

Furthermore the summit underlined the importance of boosting scientific and technological research, and supporting research institutions.

The declaration called for implementing strategies and development plans, as well as developing education, training, and future planning for interest of all members of the society, and to accord special attention to women, youths, children, those with special needs, and the family.

It also encouraged boosting efforts for addressing modern social challenges, commending efforts made for reviewing and advancing the educational curricula in line with development plans and goals.

The declaration concluded by noting that Islam highlighted the role of knowledge and social development, based on mutual respect, moderation, and dialogue that is distant from extremism.

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) ended its 26th summit as it confirmed the necessity to support Yemen.

The GCC assigned its supreme council to hold a conference in order to study investment opportunities in Yemen.

The Council studied president Saleh letters to the Gulf leaders over projects availabilities in Yemen, which could be established in ten years to reinforce the infrastructure, according to GCC Secretary-General Abdul Rahman Hamad Al Attiyah.

Al Attiyah also confirmed that the summit announced holding a joint conference including Gulf foreign ministries and the Yemeni foreign ministry to study projects illustrated in president Saleh letters.

All the GCC states were surging ahead with political and democratic reforms with particular focus on women's participation in political life as well as education, GCC Secretary-General Abdul Rahman Hamad Al Attiyah asserted.

"We are well on our way in pushing reforms and this can be seen in the steps taken by us in this regard," Attiyah said, answering a question, after the two-day GCC summit, which concluded in the capital.

"We've already started with reforms in the field of women's participation in political life as well as in the field of education. Our meeting here also referred a proposal by the Consultative Authority of the Council for review of the Council's progress in this regard," he added.

However, the GCC Secretary General stressed that the moves to introduce reforms in the field of education, particularly development of curricula, was not in response to any external pressure.

He added that as part of economic integration, the GCC central bank would be established which would have its base in Abu Dhabi.

According to analysts, the GCC states (Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, the UAE, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) have all taken steps during the past few years, albeit difference in nature and strength, on the path towards political reform.

As part of these reforms, the GCC states have adopted a unified trade policy with the rest of the world, which analysts believe comes in line with the tendency to sign multilateral FTA's, rather than the current unilateral agreements by individual member states.

The adopted policy was disclosed by the head of the GCC at a Press conference he held jointly with UAE Foreign Minister, Rashid Abdullah, after the closing ceremony of the summit.

On the unified ID card, which will allow GCC citizens to travel between member states without passports, Attiyah said all member states, except one, had finalised their schemes, denying to name the country, which he said was facing some difficulties.

Responding to a question on the joint GCC market, he said there were only three steps to be taken, saying efforts were being made to launch this important project as soon as possible.

In a response to a message sent by Arab League Secretary-General Amre Mousa to the GCC Secretary-General in which he underestimated dangers posed by Iran's nuclear programme, the UAE foreign minister said: "We understand the worries of the Arab League's chief regarding the dangers posed by Israeli nuclear programme but we, too, in the Gulf have our own worries and concerns," he said, indicating to the danger posed by Iranian nuclear programme.

"We are in a region so close to the Bu Shahr facility, and we have no guarantees on our safety. There is no protection against any leakage from this reactor," he stated.

On the proposed joint defence force, Attiyah said Supreme Council had reviewed suggestions in this regard and referred the issue to the joint defence council. As he confirmed earlier, the GCC chief said the proposal on limiting stay of expatriate workers in member states to a maximum of six years had been referred to labour ministers for further study.

On the issue of Yemen's entry to the GCC, Attiyah said the summit reviewed a message sent by Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh to GCC leaders. But he did not give a clear reply, adding that the bloc promised financial assistance to Yemen to look after its development.

UAE Foreign Minister Rashid Abdullah Al Nuaimi reiterated his country's stance on its three islands occupied by Iran.

"UAE's stand on that issue is clear, the UAE's three islands are occupied territories in reality. The UAE is a peaceful country that believes in right, justice and law and also expects others to believe in these principles, Islamic values and good neighbourliness and that there is always a solution through peaceful means either through direct negotiations, international community or arbitration, Al Nuaimi said in a joint press conference he held with Abdul Rahman Ibn Hamad Al Attiyah, the GCC Secretary General, in the wake of the GCC 26th Summit concluded in Abu Dhabi.

He added that the UAE is a civilised country that seeks stability, prosperity and calm regional atmosphere. Al Nuaimi referred to H.H. Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan's statement that the council has, thus far, fell short of meeting peoples' aspirations.

"We look forward to making greater achievements in the future," he said.

Al Nuaimi revealed that the leaders discussed a letter from Amre Mousa, the Arab League's Secretary General. "We appreciate Amre Mousa's concern as an Egyptian citizen about the Israeli nuclear programme. In fact, we share that concern with him," he said.

"However," he continued, "talking about threats to Arab national security, Mousa should have raised concerns about the Iranian programme." Al Nuaimi argued that the GCC countries are in proximity to the Iranian nuclear reactor in Bu Shahr.

"We do not have any protection in case of a leakage, specially that Iran is not a member of the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT). It is a legitimate concern," he said.

"It is up to Mousa if he is not sharing us that concern but we concur with his over Israeli programme. When the Secretary General of Arab League talks about threats posed to the region, he should take into consideration that Arab security order also covers the six Gulf Arab countries." Al Attiyah said that the topic of setting up a single central bank for GCC countries was not among the summit's agenda.

"The UAE has shown interest in establishing such an authority. This will be discussed when the part relating to financial authority and the governors committee is finalised," he said.

In a reply to a question on why no reference was made in the summit's final communiqué to Iran's nuclear programme, Al Attiyah said the leaders did discuss that. "The GCC summits and ministerial councils always stress the need to maintain the region free from weapons of mass destruction.

WMD is an international issue and it is everyone's demand to rid the region of its evils." On the situation in Lebanon, he said the summit condemned the assassinations and stressed on the necessity to provide support to Lebanon's stability.

The 26th Summit of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) had started in Abu Dhabi with the leaders pledging to ensure regional security and stability and live up to the expectations of their people in terms of prosperity and welfare.

In his opening speech, the President, His Highness Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, said the UAE was honoured to be the birthplace of the GCC 25 years ago.

"As we celebrate this great achievement, the GCC, we must remember to pay tribute to the founding fathers of this formidable organisation, whose enduring contribution continue to guide the march for cooperation and solidarity among the GCC countries and people," Shaikh Khalifa said.

He said the achievements of the GCC in a quarter century was indeed a source of pride for all. "We all share similar conviction that the homogeneity of our people and the ability of our countries to cooperate is sufficient to cement inter-GCC ties," he said.

All the GCC leaders, except the Amir of Kuwait, took part in the meeting, dubbed "Fahd Summit" after late King Fahd Ibn Abdul Aziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia. The summit came up with several recommendations aimed at ensuring regional security and stability.

Calling for greater cooperation, Sheikh Khalifa said despite the remarkable achievements of the GCC, they still fall short of the expectations and aspirations of the people, who yearn for speedy realisation of the noble objectives for which the organisation was founded 25 years ago.

He urged the ministerial committees of the GCC to finalise all these pending issues as soon as possible.

Stressing that those who act unilaterally would never succeed at this junction of time, Sheikh Khalifa said : "We should not forget that the magnitude and type of challenges have changed, a matter which calls for more efforts so as to prepare our people and countries to confront these challenges."

"The paramount objective is to build an enlightened, educated GCC citizen, to provide security and prosperity and reinforce stability and cooperation amongst GCC countries," he added.

He said the achievements would bring about security, stability and prosperity to all countries and people of the GCC.

Earlier, before they began their meeting, GCC leaders pledged to put their hands together to confront the serious challenges facing the region.

The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz arrived in Abu Dhabi to head the delegation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the 26th Summit of Arab Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) '' King Fahd Summit''.

At Abu Dhabi Airport, King Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz was received by Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayid Al Nahayan, the President of United Arab Emirates, GCC's Secretary General Abdul Rahman Ibn Hamad Al-Atiyyah, a number of Emirate's officials.

Earlier in the day, King Abdullah left Riyadh for the United Arab Emirates.

At King Khalid International Airport, King Abdullah was seen off by Prince Mishaal Ibn Abdul Aziz; Crown Prince Sultan Ibn Abdul Aziz, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defense and Aviation and Inspector General; a number of princes and senior officials.

The delegation accompanied the King included Prince Saud Al-Faisal, the Foreign Minister; Prince Bandar Ibn Sultan Ibn Abdul Aziz, the Secretary General of National Security Council; a number of princes; ministers and senior officials.

Sultan Qaboos bin Saeed of Oman, said on arrival: "I hope the GCC Summits would accomplish the aspirations of our people. We express our happiness in joining our brethren leaders of the GCC countries in the 26th Summit headed by the President, His Highness Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan."

The Bahraini Monarch underlined, in a statement upon his arrival, the need for GCC member states to work closely together to cement what he called their "lofty structure in this vital part of the Arab world."

"The regional and international turn of events, which influence our countries, require from all of us to put in efforts and carry on with our collective endeavours. In an era of accelerated developments and major challenges, the GCC has no other choice but to work hard towards cementing this lofty structure in this vital part of the Arab world," he stressed.

"The economy is our best and most appropriate option to strengthen ties among the region's people. All have to take up their economic responsibilities to achieve more integration that is solid and deep-rooted, bringing benefits to all the region's people, and enabling member-states to preserve their interests as a single economic bloc," he said King Hamad.

On his part, the Kuwaiti Prime Minister said in a statement on his arrival that the Abu Dhabi Summit "is convened amid various regional and international developments that attach much significance to our meeting and require us to carry on with our hard work to push our joint Gulf action forward."

Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, Emir of Qatar, on his arrival at the GCC Summit, called for the consolidation of joint efforts among GCC countries in various aspects, in order to ensure security and stability in the Gulf region, in the light of the challenges they were encountering.

On what the outcome of the summit would be, sources said the Gulf Arab leaders would call on Iran to respond to their repeated calls to accept negotiations over the three disputed UAE islands of Abu Musa and Greater and Lesser Tunbs.

GCC Secretary-General Abdul Rahman Al Attiyah had already ruled out any tough position on Teheran's nuclear weapons programme, which he said earlier was "no more worrisome as long as it's designed for peaceful purposes."

Before the summit sources expected that the Gulf leaders may urge Syria to cooperate with a UN probe into the killing of a former Lebanese Prime Minister.

A Gulf official was earlier quoted as saying that the summit was likely to issue a strongly worded statement on Syria.

On the economic front, according to Attiyah, the summit discussed steps towards launching a monetary union.

The talks covered a GCC-European Union trade agreement under negotiation for 15 years which, Attiyah said the bloc hoped to finalise early next year.

Delegates said the summit would also call on GCC members to turn any bilateral free trade agreements into multilateral deals.

The rich agenda of the 26th GCC summit was an indication of the leaders' stress on the relevance of the six-member bloc, despite the view of many that progress was slow on a number of issues that relate, directly or indirectly, to the lives of the region's people.

There was an overriding view among top officials and analysts at the two venues of the summit that internal issues were taking centre stage in the discussions, but not at the expense of regional and international issues. Education and economic issues appeared to be central issues necessary for the progress of the six-member bloc. Top officials emphasised that the proposed changes to educational curricula are not dictated by 'foreign agenda'.

"The GCC has survived many political and security problems in the last 25 years, and sustained the principles of its existence. But the current challenges require more action than reactions, and the current developments are exceptional," said an official.

Statements given by GCC leaders arriving in Abu Dhabi showed that the council is relevant and important for the security and prosperity of the region. The summit discussed hot issues, particularly educational and economic matters, including the monetary union that is expected to be a reality by 2010.

"The summit will endorse the outcome of GCC-level meetings that took place recently and resolved a number of issues, including the bilateral Free Trade Agreements (FTA) between individual states and the United States," said a highly-placed official on the opening day of the summit.

Officials said improvement in the education system in member-states was a top issue, as it impacts on the behaviour of people and enables them to perform their roles in society in a responsible way, enhancing security and stability.

"To upgrade the educational system in a way that catches up with scientific and technical advancement made by the industrialised world, and in a way that also preserves the traditions and Arab and Islamic identity of the region," said the official.

He said the efforts made in the education sector were necessary to enable the GCC countries to catch up with world's technological developments.

"The educational curricula to be developed will bridge the gaps and use education as a means to eradicate unemployment as thousands of university graduates in majors like history and geography are now jobless and cannot find jobs because the stress is on technical and professional qualifications," he said.

The GCC official underlined that the development of the educational system would in no way adversely affect the Arab and Islamic identity of the GCC citizens. "The new systems will strengthen the citizen's sense of belonging and heritage," he added.

Other officials stressed that the changes in the educational system will focus on "moderation" and "reason", helping to avoid the dangers of extremism that threaten the stability of society. They said the modernisation of educational curricula was not dictated by foreign agenda, but necessitated by the "real needs of Gulf societies".

Environmental issues were not at the top of the leaders' agenda, but represent an important element of the discussions.

On the other hand Sheikh Abdul Rahman Al Attiyah, GCC Secretary-General, has said that the Council was no longer worried about Teheran's programme.

"We in the Gulf region are not worried about Iran's nuclear programme," he told reporters after the GCC Ministerial Council's meeting late in the night at the Emirate Palace, the venue of the 26th GCC Summit.

However, Attiyah set a condition that their position would continue to be supportive as long as Teheran's programme is designed for peaceful purposes.

"It's not worrisome as long as it is restricted to peaceful use," he stated, warning that if it is proved otherwise, it wouldn't be justifiable and the issue wouldn't be ignored.

Al Attiyah unveiled a new initiative involving GCC member states, Iran, Iraq and Yemen, aimed at ensuring a Middle East region, including the Gulf, free of any weapons of mass destruction.

"We will be announcing very soon an agreement among the GCC states, Iran, Iraq, when it becomes stable, and Yemen, to ensure a Middle East region free of nuclear weapons and weapons of mass destruction. Our move is to further interact positively with the international community which fights against WMD proliferation," Attiyah stated.

He said the GCC leaders' meeting would discuss relations with Iran from the Islamic brotherhood perspective and the basis of friendly-neighbours.

He, however, said the issue of Iran's occupation of the three UAE Islands of Abu Musa and Greater and Lesser Tunbs remains alive, and called on Teheran to continue peace negotiations with the UAE and refer the matter to the International Court of Justice to reach a solution.

Returning to the issue of Iran's nuclear programme, Attiyah said: "We don't want to see Iran's nuclear reactor which is closer to our Gulf coast than to Teheran posing a threat to us."

On the GCC's position towards Israel's nuclear programme, Attiyah said the super powers in the (international) Security Council should pressurise Israel to open its nuclear facilities for inspection so that it does not continue to threaten the security and stability of the region.

But the repeated calls of the GCC summits to the international community to pressurise Israel to give up its nuclear programme, according to analysts, do not seem to hold water.

Critics say that all such calls to international community to pressurise Israel or for Israel to give up its nuclear programmes usually go in vain.

"As far as I remember, all such calls are just a waste of time. Israel is not listening to such calls and actually doesn't care about us. Enjoying full support of the US which deals with us on the basis of the "declared" double standard policy, Israel doesn't seem to care about what we say or do," a Gulf political analyst said on the sidelines of the summit.