(From left to right) Crown Prince Salman Bin Abdul Aziz, Deputy Premier and Minister of Defense, Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, and Bahrain's King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa share a light moment after the conclusion of the 33rd GCC summit in Manama, Tuesday. Later the Crown Prince arrived in Riyadh. — SPA
Saudi Gazette report MANAMA – Leaders of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries endorsed here Tuesday the creation of a unified military command and approved the Gulf security agreement, stressing the importance of intensifying cooperation and the exchange of information among security agencies in member states. A communique issued at the end of the two-day 33rd GCC summit also urged action to halt mass killings and violations of international law in Syria and demanded that Iran end interference in the region. “The council expressed its rejection and condemnation of the continuing Iranian interference in the affairs of the GCC states and called on Iran to stop these policies,” said the communique read out by GCC Secretary General Abdulatif Al-Zayani. It condemned Iran's continued occupation of the three Emirati islands of Abu Musa, Greater Tunb and Lesser Tunb, which lie in the strategic Strait of Hormuz entrance to the Gulf. The GCC also urged Tehran to cooperate with the UN atomic agency over its controversial nuclear program, and to ensure the safety of its Bushehr atomic power plant on the Gulf to avoid any nuclear accident. On the conflict in Syria, the communique asked the international community for serious and swift moves to stop massacres and severe attacks that “contradict all religions and international laws and humanitarian principles.” The GCC called on the international community “to provide all forms of urgent humanitarian aid” for the people of Syria. It reiterated its support to the Syrian National Coalition which is the sole lawful representative of the Syrian people. It explored the latest developments on the Palestinian issue, and asserted that a comprehensive peace cannot be achieved without Israel's full withdrawal from occupied Arab territories. The communique, called the Sakhir Declaration since it was issued at Sakhir Palace, stressed the GCC leaders' commitment to implementing all decisions of the Supreme Council on GCC integration in all areas, in particular compliance with the timetable for the establishment of the Gulf common market and working to remove impediments in the application of the Customs Union. It also stressed the need to promote the spirit of citizenship among GCC nationals in various fields to strengthen social and family fabric and ties of kinship. It called for intensifying communication between the Shoura and National Councils in the member states, implementing decisions on facilitating and promoting the transfer of national manpower among the member states, and supporting national training centers, institutes and universities and opening them to GCC nationals under the same conditions applicable to citizens of the country concerned.
