UAE: Oild prices are first summit subject

Sheikh Abdullah Sayed, the United Arab Emirates' minister of information and culture, expressed his optimism that the gulf summit, which will begin today in Abu Dhabi, can express the ambitions of the Gulf Cooperation Conference's (GCC) states and leaders.

After inaugurating yesterday a fair at the summit's information center, Sayed said that the problem of low petroleum prices faces all Gulf states and will be discussed first. He asserted that each of the individual Gulf state's petroleum output is within the allotted shares under OPEC and requested that other OPEC member countries abide by their shares to avoid further deterioration in oil prices. Along with the economic slow down in Asia, and a warm winter in North America last year that has decreased demand for oil, some OPEC countries do not observe the limit set on them for oil output, thus adding additional pressure on oil prices.

Petrol income forms the largest share of income for the Gulf states and each of these countries is facing budgetary constraints and reform in order to deal with this situation.