GCC Should Become Like EU To Withstand External Influence

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By Bruka Al-Jassar

Prince Turki Al-Faisal, the Chairman of King Faisal Centre for Research, has called for transforming the GCC into an entity identical to the European Union — a powerful entity able to withstand external influence.

He also called on the member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council to acquire nuclear power, vis a vis the other regional states that posses such capacity, namely Iran and Israel.

Middle East
Middle East

Addressing the 11th annual conference of the Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research, Prince Al-Faisal said, “We in the GCC states should seek to achieve our unity and the unity of our decisions at the security and political levels, as well as review the march of the cooperation council, its goals .. and there is nothing that prevents us from transforming the council into a unified entity similar to the European Union.”

Prince Al-Faisal called for establishing a joint Gulf army, acquiring the nuclear might to face that of Iran, particularly in case international efforts failed to coerce Tehran refrain from developing nuclear arms — as well as dismantling the nuclear arsenal of Israel.

CCC states, currently, are facing political, economic and cultural challenges, “thus we must not be complacent with the sense that stability and growth would be sustainable.”

The eminent Gulf academic cautioned that the GCC states should adopt new strategies and refrain from counting on wealth to deal with various problems and challenges.

“Wealth in the region is not sufficient to achieve (sustainable) stability and we ought to be effective regarding major international affairs and prevent others from dictating options on us,” he stressed, alluding to the external challenges threatening the GCC countries.

He called on the GCC states to adopt themes of joint security and stability to maintain the GCC as a unified entity and urged the governments of the regional states to tackle major issues such as unemployment of nationals — while foreign labor dominates the local work markets.

Elaborating, he noted that the world is witnessing rise of new major powers namely China, India, Brazil, South Africa and the EU, as “well as the GCC considering its abundant wealth resources.”

KUNA

KUNA is the Kuwait News Agency

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