The 27th summit of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) which was held on Saturday and Sunday in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, concluded with an announcement to pursue nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.    
      
Eyeing a peaceful nuclear plan

On Sunday, six Gulf Arab nations announced that they intended to pursue nuclear technology for peaceful purposes and would establish a joint plan towards this aim.

"The (leaders) commissioned a study by members of the Gulf Cooperation Council to set up a common program in the area of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, according to international standards and systems," said the statement read by GCC Secretary General Abdul-Rahman al-Attiya.

"The peaceful use of nuclear energy is the right of every country," said Attiya, underlining that "every nuclear-related activity will abide by international treaties and be subject to inspection."

In a press conference after the summit, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal dismissed the speculation that GCC's nuclear intentions would fuel regional strife.

"We will develop it openly, not in secret. We want no bombs. All we want is a Middle East wholly free of weapons of mass destruction," he told reporters.

Faisal also urged neighboring Iran to cooperate with the international community on the nuclear standoff which has raised great concerns among Gulf States.

Suspicions abound that Iran is secretly developing atomic weapons, a fact bluntly denied by the Persian country.

Faisal, meanwhile, called on Israel to accept international inspection on its nuclear facilities, saying, "Israel has no excuse to develop nuclear arms."

Although widely believed to be the only nuclear power in the region, Israel has never admitted or denied that it has nuclear weapons.

Arab on brink of exploding

Saudi King Abdullah warned, while inaugurating the summit on Saturday, that the Arab world was on the brink of exploding due to escalating conflicts in the Palestinian territories, Iraq and Lebanon.

In his unusually strong rhetoric, King Abdullah said, "Our Arab region is surrounded by unrest and danger. It is almost like a powder keg waiting for a spark to explode,"
Speaking of the Palestinian problem, he said "the most dangerous thing is the internal rift between the Palestinian brothers," referring to the in-fighting between the rival ruling Hamas movement and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah.

As for Iraq, the Saudi monarch said "brothers in Iraq are slaughtering each other, and the country is engulfed by bloodshed and violence."

On Wednesday, the US bipartisan Iraq Study Group issued the highly-anticipated report that recommends major changes in the Bush Administration's Iraq policy, which it says is "not working."

The Sunni-dominated Gulf nations also fear that Shiite Iran will exert too much influence upon Iraq.

As for Lebanon, he also voiced concerns for the country's unity.

Hindered economic integration

The already slow-paced GCC economic integration process suffered another blow as reports said Oman will not join the Arab Gulf monetary union by the deadline of 2010.

The decision, although not officially announced, cast doubts over the possibility of achieving the GCC's main economic goals-- establishing a common market by 2007 and a single currency by 2010.

A major setback occurred at last year's summit when the GCC decided to extend the transition period of the bloc's customs union from 2005 to the end of 2007.

Founded in 1981, the GCC groups Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. It has been striving to achieve wide-ranging cooperation among member states against both internal and international challenges.

(Xinhua News Agency December 11, 2006)