GCC monetary council headquarters opens in Riyadh

The Minister of Finance of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Dr. Ibrahim bin Abdulaziz Al-Assaf opened Saturday the headquarters of the GCC Monetary Council in Riyadh. Qatar\'s Minister of Finance Ali Shareef Al-Emadi and the Governor of Qatar Central Bank Shaikh Abdullah bin Saud bin Abdulaziz Al Thani took part in the inauguration ceremony. The event was attended by ministers of finance and governors of central banks of the GCC member countries and senior officials. The Monetary Council of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) includes Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Saudi Arabia as members. It aims at preparing foundations of the Monetary Union and the GCC Central Bank. Addressing the ceremony, the Saudi Finance Minister said that the main goal of the GCC Monetary Union is to achieve the highest degree of economic integration among the GCC member states. He underlined the keenness of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz and the Kingdom commitment to promote cooperation and integration among the GCC countries, and move forward from the stage of cooperation to the stage of union. The Saudi Finance Minister said that current challenges in the region stress the importance of redouble efforts towards achieving economic integration by completing the pillars of the Customs Union, the Gulf Common Market; and the Monetary Union. The Monetary Union represents the last pillar in this important project in order to achieve a high level of financial and monetary stability, and create an economic bloc that is able to negotiate and compete on the international level, he said. Such important projects will contribute to increasing rates of economic growth and employment, ease the transmission of investments between the GCC countries and attract foreign investments, the minister added. For his part, Governor of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency and Chairman of the GCC Monetary Council Dr. Fahad bin Abdullah Al-Mubarak hailed the efforts and the support offered by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to establish and host the headquarters of the GCC Monetary Council. He expressed thanks and gratitude for the leaders of the GCC countries for their efforts aiming at enhancing economic integration and coordinating economic policies among the GCC countries. He underlined that the Council will contribute to further promoting the monetary cooperation frameworks between the member states, based on the institution-building approach which aim at developing the monetary union, as this Council is the first step to the institutions of the monetary union.