Kuwait Summit NEWS - Dec. 14-16.

I'll post all the news about this Summit here:

FX union likely to take upto 10 yrs -Kuwait

Dec 08, 2009 at 09:56

KUWAIT - The Kuwaiti parliament unanimously approved a measure to join plans for a Gulf monetary union on Tuesday, but a top government official said adoption of the single currency could take up to 10 years.

Lawmakers, however, demanded that another vote take place ahead of the single currency launch. Kuwait is the latest member of the four-country bloc with in the Gulf Cooperation Council to clear the long-standing project after Saudi Arabia.

"Issuing the (Gulf) currency, as the central bank governor clarified, will take a long time and could reach up to 10 years," Kuwait Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammad al-Salem al-Sabah told parliament.

Kuwaiti deputies delayed the vote last month, saying they needed more time to assess economic implications of the union.

Bahrain was on track to ratify the project ahead of the Gulf rulers' meeting in Kuwait on Dec. 14-16.

Abdulrahman al-Attiyah, the GCC secretary general, has said that Qatar had already ratified the union plan although Qatari officials have declined to comment.

The United Arab Emirates and Oman, another members of the six-strong GCC - a loose economic bloc -- have opted out of monetary union.

The issue of how to peg any Gulf single currency has gained momentum over the past months as the dollar slid to multi-month lows and oil prices recovered, helping economies in the world's top oil exporting region emerge from a downturn.

Kuwait, the world's fourth largest oil exporter, is the only Gulf Arab country to peg its currency to a basket rather than the dollar and has promoted this idea last month.

Saudi Arabia, the top Arab economy, followed saying a basket was one of the options, putting the greenback's regional status in question as countries have long said the single currency is expected to be linked to the dollar.

Qatar's central banker told Reuters last week the country's riyal currency will stay pegged to the dollar for the time being, but all possibilities will be considered for the planned Gulf monetary union.

The dollar peg is a sensitive issue in the region, where top two economies - Saudi Arabia and UAE - have strong political and economic ties to the United States.

The Gulf Arab countries have adopted fixed exchange rate regimes in the past to stabilise their currencies and import low inflation from the overseas.

Kuwait broke ranks with fellow Gulf states in 2007 and dropped the peg to help fight then-soaring inflation.

Upcoming GCC Summit vital to regional economic integration
[08/December/2009]

KUWAIT, Dec 8 (Saba) -- A couple of Kuwaiti academics ahead of the Gulf Cooperation Council Summit scheduled in Kuwait next week, stressed its importance in the region's integration through the adoption of several joint projects including a unified currency and electricity network, Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) reported on Tuesday.

Both academics signified the dominance of talks on the economic scale between leaders of the six GCC states; Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain, which they agreed will lead to huge benefits for the region's societies amid the effects of the global financial downturn.

Professor for Political Sciences and Dean of Social Sciences at Kuwait University Dr. Abdulredha Aseeri said that the to-be summit, held 30 years after the formation of the regional union, faced many security, political and economical challenges which it has managed to overcome.

Joint coordination between these states, has helped in getting over these struggles, he said, and one of these current predicaments is the global financial downturn, which has had its effects on the economy of Gulf States.
Many will be closely following the summit, Aseeri suggested, due to the region's strategic position as a major global energy-provider and as a dynamic centre in between several nations in conflict.

Although he viewed the economic agenda as the number one issue on the list of talks, due to the importance of economic integration in dragging the region out of the aftershocks of the financial crisis, which include increasing unemployment rates, and imbalanced population disparity.

GCC states have adequate foundation for a number of joint projects in the field, namely the much talked about unified electricity plant network.
On the political scale, he said GCC states were obligated to draw a clear and precise position on the Iranian nuclear issue towards the east, the Iraqi crisis in the north and the civil war in Yemen which has poured outwards to the south.

Economy Professor at Kuwait University Anwar Al-Shuraiaan reiterated the view on GCC economic integration as a major advantage to the region.
He also indicated that GCC states are required not to compete against one another when applying cooperative projects.
Each Gulf state has its own strong economic point which it can use to achieve overall positive results out of this integration. He drew examples of Saudi Arabia being strong industrially, Bahrain financially, Qatar educationally and so on..

Al-Shuraiaan also underlined the necessity for this integration to be preceded by an appropriate infrastructure and tough legislation-making, especially for projects like the unified currency.

The Kuwaiti academic called on his country to complete major projects locally like Boubyan Port along with the development of the other three ports, Jaber Bridge and international free-trade areas.

On the unified currency, he said that the move will have its benefits on banishing exchange costs and easing cooperative trade between the six neighbouring countries.

Saba

Unified GCC currency could become reality in Kuwait: Ahmad Al-Sabah
Kuwait News Agency - 07 December, 2009

Kuwait's Oil and Information Minister Sheikh Ahmad Al-Abdullah Al-Sabah said Sunday that he expected crucial developments on the issue of the unified Gulf currency during the Gulf Cooperation Council Summit scheduled to be held in his home country later this month.
During independence day celebrations at the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates in Kuwait, the minister expressed hope the vision of a unified GCC currency would come to reality on Kuwaiti soil, along with the joint electricity network plan.
He also stressed the need for regional media to practice a constructive role in the coverage of events during the summit.
Furthermore, Sheikh Ahmad congratulated the UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al-Nahyan and his people on their independence day.