In his first interview since being nominated by Bahrain for the post of Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Abdul Latif Bin Rashid Al-Zayani said on Monday that King Abdullah was resolved to “maintain the unity, stability and security of GCC states and strengthen the Council in the midst of the delicate circumstances the region and world are witnessing”. Al-Zayani, currently the head of Public Security at Bahrain's Ministry of Interior, said that the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques' efforts to unify the positions of Gulf states and Arabs represented “a turning point in the course of GCC and Arab joint work”. “I hope I am successful and capable of realizing the aspirations of the leaders,” Al-Zayani said. Bahrain replaced last week its previous candidate for the post, Muhammad Al-Mutawi', following reservations from Qatar and in response to a letter from King Abdullah, and Al-Zayani will now assume his new role on April 1, 2011, succeeding Abdulrahman Al-Attiyah who was reelected twice and held the post for nine years.
