Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques visit jubilantly anticipated

Manama, Dec. 6 (BNA): Information Affairs Minister Ali bin Mohammed Al Romaihi has affirmed that the economic and the military dossiers top the list of issues tabled before the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) leaders in their summit today in the Kingdom of Bahrain. The minister told CNN today that the Bahraini people are passionately and jubilantly looking forward to the visit of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud to participate in the 37th GCC Summit hosted in the Kingdom of Bahrain after conducting a Gulf tour during which he met the leaders of the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. He added that King Salman is a big Arab and Muslim leader whose visit we anticipate, affirming that the visit will have lots of positive outcomes that will serve the region's peoples in view of the bilateral amity, fraternity, cooperation and coordination ties. 'It is the summit of welfare, development and advancement, it is an outstanding summit at a very critical time, many dossiers are expected by the Gulf citizens, there a lot of optimism since the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Organisation over the past years has attained very advanced stages of coordination and cooperation," affirmed the minister in response to a question about the possible title of this summit. The minister went on to say that in the military aspect, there has been the Peninsula Shield as one of the outcomes of this Organisaiton, and the latest Gulf Security Exercise hosted by the Kingdom of Bahrain, we have a unified Police Agency. We have the Economic Development Authority led by HRH Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz the Deputy Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia; all of these are auspicious signs of a welfare and prosperity summit. And regarding whether there is tendency to declare any form of a military union on the list of dossiers tabled before the summit, the Bahraini minister said "the Peninsula Shield Forces have been here and will continue to develop non-stop throughout the past years; and, we also consider any threat to any Arabian Gulf country tantamount to a threat to the entire Arabian Gulf. The Arabian Gulf is one nation and we in our media channels address one people, and the summit today emits such signals. Regarding economic dossiers tabled before the summit to reflect the changing financial reality and the possible endorsement of Value Added Tax (or VAT) for instance, the minister said "No doubt the current global financial and economic crisis impacts on all countries, including Bahrain and the Gulf countries, and therefore, the Economic Development Authority is the agency that will discuss many proposed solutions. He added that "we in the Gulf countries are considered one united nation as the sixth biggest economic bloc and therefore the Gulf countries have their economic weight which necessitates constant coordination to preserve the many economic gains and to develop and find alternatives that serve the peoples of this region. And regarding the signals of the presence of British Prime Minister Teresa May in the summit in view of the sensitivity of dossiers tabled at the summit and to Gulf countries assertion of continued Iranian threats, Information Minister Ali bin Mohammed Al Romaihi said "The presence of British Prime Minister in Bahrain indicates the importance of this region and the excellent ties between Bahrain and Britain over more than 200 years.'