GCC Common Market Makes Great Strides towards Achieving its Goals

Doha, January 08 (QNA) - The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Common Market has reached an advanced stage and made great strides towards achieving its goal, said GCC Assistant Secretary-General for Economic and Development Affairs Abdullah bin Juma Al Shibli, adding that the market is almost complete because it achieved the principle of full equality among the citizens of the GCC countries in most fields. In an interview with Qatar News Agency (QNA), Al Shibli said that the GCC economic agglomeration led to economic stability and also contributed to security and political stability, pointing out that the region as well as the world have passed through several political and economic crises over the last three decades. Al Shibli announced that Muscat will host next Tuesday an introductory workshop on joint action decisions, underlining the attention given by the Gulf Cooperation Council to citizens' interaction with decisions taken.      The leaders of the GCC countries are keen on promoting GCC common market and removing obstacles that it may face, Al Shibli said, while stressing the importance of the upcoming workshop in Muscat. The workshop, the second of its kind organized by the GCC Secretariat General to implement the decision of the 34th Supreme Council summit in Kuwait in 2013, will address various topics and most decisions concerned GCC citizens, the GCC Assistant Secretary-General said, adding that the most important decisions cover trade, customs, and the integration of financial markets, in addition to resolutions in social, health and education fields and employment services, among others.      Since its inception in 2007, the GCC common market has achieved positive and tangible results such as allowing GCC nationals to own and trade shares, start-up companies and open branches of the companies in the member states, Al Shibli said, while pointing to other privileges such as the application of the principle of full equality among the citizens of the GCC countries to work in government and private sectors, social insurance and retirement coverage, real estate ownership, capital movement, access to education, health and other social services. Another important benefit was increasing intraregional trade of the Gulf Cooperation Council and the ease of movement of goods and services, the GCC Assistant Secretary-General added. Asked whether the GCC common market achieved its objectives, Al Shibli said that the GCC Common Market has reached an advanced stage and made great strides in this regard, adding that most of its objectives has been accomplished