The Union of Arab Gulf Cooperation Council
This paper takes the position that the union of the Arab Gulf Cooperation Council countries is a good step towards the future. Various illustrations of the benefits such as economically, politically and socially are discussed. In addition, the various consequences resulting from the union are discussed.
A brief background of the GCC
The GCC was established in May 1981 with a main aim of strengthening the economic and military bonds between the six member countries. The countries not only share a similar political structure made of autocratic monarchies and in some sheikdoms but they also have very limited political participation if any (BBC NEWS, 2008). This was particularly due to the commonness in their resources particularly the oil resources in the region. As of 1980s, it was estimated that the oil reserves in the bloc amounted to about 274 billion barrels thus making the bloc reserve close to 52 percent of the worlds oil reserves (Haldane, 1985). Prior to the formation of GCC, the countries led by Saudi Arabia had come together in pursuit of ways of dealing with the common problems experienced in the region. This led to the formation of various institutions such as the Arab Gulf Organization, the Arab News agency and the Gulf Television Authority. With the continued need to have the region unified economically, politically and socially, the GCC came into establishment.
The GCCs highest body is the Supreme Council which comprises of the heads of the six states and is mandated with making decisions. Convening meetings annually, the Supreme Councils is headed on a rotational basis as per the Arabic alphabetical order of the six states. It is also possible to have an extraordinary session if necessary so long as a Member State seconds the request. The Ministerial Council which convenes at the intervals of three months in a year is made of foreign ministers and takes the role of overseeing realization of decisions in addition to coming up with policies. The administrative organ of the GCC is the Secretariat-General which plans for meetings as well as monitoring policy implementation. The GCC Charter is the Consultative Commission with a membership of 30 representatives (five from each state) and it is the advisory board to the Supreme Council. An ad hoc based Commission for the Settlement of Disputes can be instituted in case any conflicts arise among the member countries. The Supreme Council selects a Secretary General who serves for three years which can be renewed once (BBC NEWS, 2008).
There are various sectors that make up the Secretariat General. These include Political Affairs, Economic Affairs, Human and Environment Affairs, Military Affairs, Security Affairs, Legal Affairs, Office of the Secretary-General, Finance and Administrative Affairs, Patent Bureau, Administrative Development Unit, Internal Auditing Unit, and Information Centre (GCC-Secretariat General, 2010).
The establishment of the GCC was upon a number of objectives as per the GCC Charter. These include to have all the Member States coordinate, and integrate in every field by tightening the ties between the peoples in the different states. To come up with uniform regulations governing the economy in matters of trade, customs, tourism, legislation and governance and to advance their industries including mining industry, agriculture as well as livestock resources. It is also the objective of the union to set up common scientific centers, establishing joint ventures and bringing together the private sector across the member states (GCC-Secretariat General, 2010).
With these common objectives, the GCC bloc was formed with the hope that it would strengthen their voice amongst other international blocs such as the European Union and the United States. As such, the GCC would be able to put forward their case on equal grounds with the other regions.
GCC is a good step towards the future
The formation of the union of Arab Gulf Cooperation council is a positive step that is necessary for the future of the Member States. There have been various achievements that have been made through this cooperation over the last 29 years that no doubt show that this union is a necessary step towards a better future for the region. Most of these achievements and future prospects would be very hard to achieve with the countries standing individually.
At the time of its establishment, the GCC Member States were facing the threat of the Iran-Iraq war from their close neighbors. This was a security challenge that in fact stimulated the formation of GCC for the countries needed to shield themselves from the war which not only threatened the security of its people but also their rich oil resources (GCC-Secretariat General, 2010). With the union in place, it is possible for these Islamic countries to counter Islamic extremists and fundamentalists such as the Iranian activist Islamism. As a defense measure against these threats, a joint command was formed in 1982 under the name of Peninsula Shield. Despite its collapse in 1987, the efforts thereof were substantial to guarantee a reliable defense force against external invasion of any GCC Member State. With the strength and confidence of the military enforcement from the GCC, the Persian Gulf War of 1991 was not a great to the bloc as it would have been if the states stood individually (Global Security, 2005). This is a clear indication that the GCC is at least prepared to defend their interests from external military interference even in the future.
Were it not for the intervention of the GCC in during Iraqs invasion on Kuwait in the 1990s, the country would have suffered invasion and unrest. Kuwaits invasion was viewed as invasion against the whole of GCC and its call for the withdrawal of the Iraq troops in early 1990 saw the war come to an end. The GCC has also proved important in resolving conflicts involving foreign invasion of the Member States such as the support given to UAE in reclaiming the Tunb and Abu Musa Islands which Iran occupied in 1971. Not only is the GCC beneficial for the member states but also to the neighboring states as illustrated for its support of rebuilding post-war Iraq. This was done through insisting on the need to let Iraq stand as a sovereign nation and its citizens be shielded from brutal terror attacks. The GCC has also been a voice in the call for international peace and conflict resolution as indicated by the efforts to end Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It has also stood as a campaigner for peace and sovereignty through its support in resolving political and religious conflicts in Lebanon, Somalia and Sudan thus standing out as an important regional body now and in the future (GCC-Secretariat General, 2010).
The security of this region being of high priority due to the hostility experienced around this region, the GCC has amassed military strength from the Member States. Military cooperation has been strengthened with the formation of the Al-Jazeerah Shield Joint Forces. The GCC Member States are committed to collectively tackling and security issue facing any one of them as one that poses a risk to all the members. In fact the armed forces in each state are interconnected through cables thus enabling efficient response in any eventuality. The same has been done for the land, air and marine forces for the GCC nations (GCC-Secretariat General, 2010). With these in place, current and future war threats against any of the Member States would be handled with ease.
Economic cooperation is among the main objectives of the GCC. Through various strategies taken to boost the economic integration of this region, there is no doubt that the GCC is bound to be a beneficial union for its economy. For instance, custom duties among the six states were removed in 1983. By making the region a free trade area, citizens of the GCC member states started moving goods across national borders without paying custom duties on specific goods. This is good news to traders and everyone in the region for it creates a great chance to develop industrially and agriculturally. There is a marked increase in the flow of goods across the GCC states resulting from the introduction of the free trade area. It is noted that as from the enactment of the free trade area in 1983 to 2002, there was an increase in volume of trade with about US 14 billion (GCC-Secretariat General, 2010). Business persons from one country are able to invest in any other member states without prior restrictions. This is an opening for individuals and countries to expand economically. Access to infrastructure was also boosted out of a meeting in Kuwait in1984 which passed that rates for water, electricity and telephone services be standardized. With the approval of building a gas network across the Gulf, the GCC states are strategically placed to advance industrially and agriculturally. The availability of the infrastructure to all the member countries is an important means of economic integration and empowerment (Haldane, 1985).
In 2003, the GCC established the customs union thus strengthening the 1983 free trade area and economic integration. The custom union was a great move towards making trade amongst the GCC member states even more vibrant. Goods can now freely flow with no tariff barriers. There has been an immense growth in intra-GCC trade from the time the custom union was incepted growing at a rate of 20 percent per annum. As such, it is expected that even more growth would occur after the custom union regulations have been instituted in every country. The overall economy of the region is bound to be hefty as these countries adhere to the custom union.
The formation of the GCC is a great step towards economic strengthening of the Gulf region seeing that the GCC implemented a common market in 2008. With the common market, individuals and companies in the bloc are accorded a national treatment thus making trade and investment across the countries open. With a customs union and an open market, the GCC stands a better position of trading with other economic blocs such as the European Union. This places the region in a global position to gain from international trade (Kuwait Times, 2006). With the economic bloc in place, the GCC is able to trade with other economic powers such as the EU free trade agreement that was brokered in 1988. Increasing the strength of this region through common market, common currency and overall intraregional trade enhances the chances of being incorporated in international free trade areas (EU External Relations, 2009).
The proposed common currency in the GCC region is among the most powerful means of economically stabilizing the region. The monetary unions proposal is targeted to be implemented by the end of 2010 and stands to succeed considering the already established common market and customs union (Al Hussaini, A, 2009). With the currency union, it is deemed to the non-oil economy which is made of agriculture and tourism industries stronger. The growth of the non-oil economy would be very vital on these countries which heavily depend on the oil sector thus making them prone to economic shocks especially while world oil prices fluctuate. In addition, the unification of currency in the GCC would end up solving the problem of a surging labor force by increasing employment opportunities (Fasano-Filho, 2003). In addition, Fasano-Filho (2003) suggests that by having a common currency, markets under GCC will end up expanding and in the process enhance competition. With competition will come diversification which will, with time, lead to the GCC integrating well into the global economy. It is also projected that a monetary union among the GCC states would eventually open economic cooperation across the countries in the Middle East.
The establishment of the GCC is a good step towards tackling environmental challenges that face the world. Tackling environmental issues as a bloc is deemed to be more effective in addition to having individual states handle their own environmental issues. The efforts of the union to conserve the environment by setting unified regulations regarding use of environmental resources and management of wastes among other conservative efforts are deemed to maintain a sustainable environment in the region. As a union, it becomes easier to present its case in the international arena in matters of environmental conservation. The GCC has gone ahead to institute initiatives that would promote individual as well as cooperate responsibility on environmental resources. These include the award of prizes such as the Best Environmental Awareness Programme as well as the Best Environmental Personality. Such initiative would promote environmental conservation and sustainability for the future of these countries (Oman Electronic Network, 2010).
The coming together of the six Persian Gulf countries under GCC is a step forward to promoting the social relationships between the peoples of these countries. Sharing a common social life as well as religion, the opening of border barriers and treating every individual as a national would enhance the preservation of these values. In any case, the bloc is governed under common Islamic laws such as the Common Law of Personal Status (GCC-Secretariat General, 2010).
Some negative aspects of the union
Despite the much praise given to the coming together of the six Persian Gulf countries, there are several negative effects that would result in the short term and the long term. It is no doubt that coming together as a union will mean that individual states will lose control over their territories and resources. Being part of the union thus means compromising even the advantages a country may have had over other member states in order to reach a common good for all. For instance, the proposal to have the region have a customs union affected UAE in that it was forced to adapt the proposed 5.5 rate on essential goods as opposed to its lower customs rate of 4. The fears were based on the argument that the tariff would see the UAE lose competitive advantage it had over Kuwait and Oman whose predicament came after opening free-trade areas (Bahaa, 1999). These worries are however superseded by the potential benefits.
By agreeing to the Cooperation, states also commit themselves to suffer together with any of the member states who may face external interference and conflicts. As such, it becomes quite disadvantageous to involve other uninvolved countries into the conflicts of the other. The disputed UAE Islands occupied by Iran poses a challenge to all members of the Cooperation. Being in the bloc makes individual countries almost lose their autonomy in making major decisions. For instance, a rift occurred between some members such as Kuwait due to their support of Iraq invasion led by the US, a position that was against some of the GCC members (BBC NEWS, 2008).
Challenges of who will govern the region and the location of the central administration of the bloc also came up with formation of the union. The pulling out of the UAE in the plan of having a common currency was for instance based on the decision to locate the central bank of the region to Saudi Arabia (El-tablawy, 2009).
Conclusion
The establishment of the union of Arab Gulf Cooperation Council in early 1980s was undoubtedly a good step towards the future of the member countries. The Council has been able to stabilize the politics, economy and the security of the Persian Gulf amidst major wars such as the 1981 Iraq-Iran war and the Persian Gulf War. The union has also accomplished strong economic integration in the region thus facilitating free trade among the members. Setting up a common market and the proposed monetary union will definitely improve the overall economy and boost the global position of the region. Despite the few challenges and compromises that the member states would have to meet to make this union stand, the benefits more so in the future of the region are within reach.
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