THE DAILY STAR :: Gulf Arab ministers say integration plan needs more discussion

Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Secretary General Abdelatif Zayani (C) arrives to the regular foreign ministers' meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states in the Red Sea Saudi port city of Jeddah. (AFP PHOTO/AMER HILABI)

Gulf Arab foreign ministers said a plan to integrate their six countries, proposed by Saudi Arabia last year as a response to Middle East turmoil, needed more discussion after they met in Jeddah on Sunday.

Saudi King Abdullah had urged the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to move "to the stage of unity in a single entity" at the end of a speech in December that focused on last year's Arab uprisings and a perceived threat from Shi'ite Muslim power Iran.

The GCC countries, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Oman, in January ordered a committee to study the idea and it presented its proposals to the foreign ministers before Sunday's meeting.

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