RIYADH – The 27th meeting between Gulf Cooperation Council General Secretariat and chiefs and board members of the GCC chambers of commerce and industry kicked off here Saturday. Saudi Minister of Commerce and Industry Tawfiq Al-Rabiah, also the chairman of the rotating presidency of GCC Trade Cooperation Committee, said in his speech, that the pan-GCC action has witnessed great development in the past years. GCC Secretary General Abdullatif Al-Zayyani echoed the same view. “The march toward more economic integration among the GCC countries has witnessed great positive developments in the past few years,” he said. He added that increasing economic growth and achieving prosperity for each GCC member are the most important strategic objectives of the GCC. Al-Zayyani underlined that the GCC seeks to increase the private sector contributions to national economies through strengthening the partnership with the public sector and diversifying investments and economic activities. Middle Eastern economist Said Hirsh at Capital Economics said separately earlier that “the slowdown in Saudi Arabia's annual GDP growth rate from 5.9 percent in Q1 to 5.5 percent in the second quarter was primarily due to the fact that both the oil and government sectors slowed sharply.” – SG/KUNA
