On the Gulf customs federation

The secretary general of the Gulf Cooperation Council GCC member states Sheikh Jamil al-Hujeilan has expressed his optimism over the establishment of the customs federation for the GCC member states at its set date scheduled the first of March 2005.

In a statement released by the general secretariat of the GCC in al-Riyadh on Sunday, al-Hujeilan praised the decision taken by the state of Bahrain to start reduction of the customs tariff on all commodities as from this year (2001) in line with the decision of the higher council of the GCC in its 20th session held in 1999.

He expressed hope that other GCC member states will follow Bahrain's example and that the specialized committee will be able to settle issues pertaining to the establishment of the GCC customs federation at its set time, due to the importance of this federation in being a qualitative change in the area of economic and customs co-operation among the GCC member states.