Faisal said "Our guests, our GCC youth, no doubt that the march of integration and cooperation of the GCC States is a successful experience at both the Arab and Muslim levels. The survival of the Council itself, its achievement of numerous accomplishments and its tackling of many challenges indicate the strength of the GCC , but the shift to the status of union would give greater impetus to the march of the GCC, and gives the GCC countries more weightage and standing compatible with their elements of soft- power, material resources and geo-strategic importance." He also asserted that the GCC union if achieved will lead to big gains for the benefit of our peoples. In the area of ??foreign policy, the existence of a GCC supreme body coordinating foreign policy decisions will collectively rearrange priorities of these countries realizing their collective interests. When the six GCC states collectively negotiate with other states in a federal structure, this will strengthen the bargaining power of our countries in a way that cannot be provided by the individual move which is void of tools of collective pressure. In the area of ??defense, the defense integration is a key guarantee to the security of the GCC states as an alternative to the defense policy based on temporary alliances of passing interests as those alliances remain linked to those interests which inherently are variable. Defense integration will be a prelude to security coordination. In the economic field, the union of the type sought, will make the GCC countries a powerful economic bloc with a GDP in 2011 reaching more than US $1.4 trillion and a single market strength of 42 million people. Prince Saud Al-Faisal highlighted the importance of the youth in societies saying that more than 65% of the total population of our countries are under the age of 30 years.
