Security has been beefed up in the Eastern Province ahead of the 10th consultation meeting in Dhahran of the leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries (GCC) on May 20. The leaders who are going to meet in Dhahran for the first time at the invitation of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz will attend the celebration of Saudi Aramco 75th anniversary. President Bush is expected to be present to commemorate the anniversary. King Abdullah is scheduled to inaugurate Aramco's establishment at its headquarters in Dhahran. Celebrations will take place at 11 sites across the Kingdom. An integrated security and traffic plan has been drawn up to ensure smooth traffic flows, an official said. Spokesman of the Eastern Province police Col. Yousef Bin Ahmad Al-Qahtani said coordination meetings have been held to prepare for the implementation of the plan. Al-Qahtani declined, however, to indicate the number of security personnel who would be on duty during the one-day meeting and anniversary celebration. Mayoralty of Eastern Province has been racing against time to finish its plan for the summit. It has already completed more than 75% of the works and projects on a number of roads in Dammam and Al-Khobar. Although the consultation meetings are usually held without agenda, the leaders will largely focus on the region's hot issues especially the current developments in Lebanon, the US efforts to restart talks between the Palestinians and Israelis, as well as the situation in Iraq. It is also expected that the leaders will touch on other issues including the Gulf common market and the accomplishments the member states have made since the GCC summit held in Qatar. - Okaz __
