Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Jasem AlBudawi affirmed on Tuesday that a GCC-Iranian rapprochement, based on neighborliness, noninterference in domestic affairs of other countries and abidance by international treaties, serves regional stability.
He, however, warned that the recent Houthi attack on Bahraini forces stationed on the Saudi-Yemeni borders risks pushing this rapprochement steps backward. AlBudaiwi hoped Iran would understand the need to have normal relations with its neighbors based on good neighborliness principles.
In a meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian a few days ago, he confirmed that his country is willing to have these normal relations with the GCC member states. The GCC chief estimated the annual growth rate of the GCC states at 6 percent. The six GCC members make up the world’s eighth largest economy with GDP of up to USD 2.4 trillion, he added.
He expected that the GDP of the GCC member states would jump to USD 6 trillion by 2050, their sovereign funds would reach USD 3,225 billion and the pan-GCC trade would hit USD 107 billion.
Source: KUNA