Monetary union in the Gulf will continue despite the withdrawal of the UAE, the four remaining GCC countries signed up to the single currency plan have pledged.
Speaking in the aftermath of the UAE’s decision on Wednesday to pull out of the 10 year-old plan, official sources for the GCC, Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi said the union would go ahead
However, they agreed that the union would be weakened by the move, with the UAE being the second GCC member to opt out of the union after Oman pulled out in 2007.
Kuwait's finance minister, Mustapha Al Shamali was among the first to comment on the effect of the UAE’s decision on the future of the union, which is scheduled to come into force by the end of 2010.
"Kuwait and other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries are still committed with this agreement and we are all going ahead with what we've agreed on. There is no change in the stance of Kuwait."
Meanwhile, a key advisor to the Qatari Amir confirmed to local media that the Gulf state was still on board with the monetary union plan.
"We believe in the common currency for the GCC and we will forge head with the work," Ibrahim Al Ibrahim said in remarks published in an Arabic Qatari newspaper on Thursday.
"Really, it is a regrettable thing for the GCC. There are things that are going positively and others that are going negatively," he added.
The newspaper also cited Naser Al Kaud, deputy assistant secretary-general of the GCC Secretariat, as saying Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain were still committed to the common currency.
Monetary union in the Gulf will continue despite the withdrawal of the UAE, the four remaining GCC countries signed up to the single currency plan have pledged.
Speaking in the aftermath of the UAE’s decision on Wednesday to pull out of the 10 year-old plan, official sources for the GCC, Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi said the union would go ahead
However, they agreed that the union would be weakened by the move, with the UAE being the second GCC member to opt out of the union after Oman pulled out in 2007.
Kuwait's finance minister, Mustapha Al Shamali was among the first to comment on the effect of the UAE’s decision on the future of the union, which is scheduled to come into force by the end of 2010.
"Kuwait and other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries are still committed with this agreement and we are all going ahead with what we've agreed on. There is no change in the stance of Kuwait."
Meanwhile, a key advisor to the Qatari Amir confirmed to local media that the Gulf state was still on board with the monetary union plan.
"We believe in the common currency for the GCC and we will forge head with the work," Ibrahim Al Ibrahim said in remarks published in an Arabic Qatari newspaper on Thursday.
"Really, it is a regrettable thing for the GCC. There are things that are going positively and others that are going negatively," he added.
The newspaper also cited Naser Al Kaud, deputy assistant secretary-general of the GCC Secretariat, as saying Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain were still committed to the common currency.
However, he admitted that the UAE's move would weaken the single currency plan.
http://www.arabianbusiness.com/556297-gulf-states-pledge-to-contiune-wit...
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