Some 300 prominent media figures, including editors-in-chief, broadcasters and influential journalists, have been invited to cover the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit taking part here next week, said a senior Amiri advisor yesterday. The high-level media guests will also participate in discussion groups and seminars being held on the sidelines of the event focusing on the council's achievements and experience since its foundation in 1981, Amiri Diwan Advisor Mohammad Abu Al-Hassan added.

His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah will head the forthcoming 30th GCC Summit with an "affirmative spirit" in order to ensure that it fulfills the ambitions of the Gulf and Arab peoples as a whole, Abu Al-Hassan noted. The minister was speaking during a press conference held by the summit preparation committee's media committee.

The media center during the summit, which will be located in Al-Raya Hotel, is to be managed by Ministry of Information Advisor Khaled Al-Razni. Also under the leadership of the media committee are the welcoming committee, chaired by Moussa Turki, the director of the information ministry's Public Relations department, and the publication committee, tasked with distributing pamphlets, press releases and other PR material, which will be headed by foreign ministry General Councilor Sami Al-Hamad.

Abu Al-Hassan voiced hope that the upcoming summit would prove exceptional in terms of media coverage, revealing that a hot air balloon, presented to Kuwait by the United Arab Emirates to mark the event, will be launched from the Kuwait Towers on Friday, Dec 11, under the management of Captain Abdulaziz Al-Mansouri of the UAE. The balloon's release will highlight Kuwait's critical contributions to ensuring the GCC's success, said Captain Al-Mansouri yesterday.

Ministry of Interior (MoI) spokesperson Colonel Mohammad Al-Saber said that the summit would be a great patriotic event being held amid very critical regional and international circumstances that warrant consultation among the leaders of the GCC states.

He affirmed that the national security authorities would coordinate with the information authorities in preparation for the event, noting that the ministry would facilitate the requirements of the journalists covering it. From yesterday, the ministry began conducting a number of security checks to test the levels of preparedness, including closing roads to assess the traffic system's ability to cope with next week's closures.

Information center head Al-Razni said that a special website would be set up especially for the summit, providing a number of services including information about the council's work since its establishment, the schedule of the summit and associated activities. He revealed that a number of workshops are to be held for the media figures attending the event, in addition to a formal luncheon under the sponsorship of Abu Al-Hassan this coming Sunday.

KUNA and Kuwait Television will enjoy the sole photography rights at the event, which will also be covered by both television and the special website. In Muscat, an Omani official said that the many key economic developments currently at play call on the Gulf leaders meeting in Kuwait next week to coordinate efforts towards achieving economic integration among their countries.

Khalil Bin Abdullah Al-Khanji, the head of Oman's Chamber of Commerce and Trade, said that despite the prevailing critical conditions, he was optimistic of the six GCC states' ability to overcome the challenge. Al-Khanji said that the Gulf states need to adopt suitable policies to surmount the repercussions of the ongoing global financial meltdown and to achieve food security and complete power and water network projects.

Al-Khanji said that reforming and organizing the labor market in order to conform to international laws and regulations will be among the other top priorities for the Gulf leaders during the event, adding that Oman has advanced experience in training and empowering its citizens. He urged the private sector to join the government in supporting integration projects, as well as calling on the government to exert support to the sector.

In the Qatari capital Doha, meanwhile, a number of local entrepreneurs expressed optimism at what would be achieved during the upcoming summit, with one prominent Qatari businessmen describing the event as a pillar of joint GCC action and suggesting that the resolutions endorsed during it would be mainly of an economic nature.

Another prominent figure, Nasser Al-Mir, a member of the Arab Labor Organization's management board, asserted that the endorsement of the GCC monetary union in Kuwait next week would lead to the launch of the GCC common currency, which he said would be a great turning point in the region's history. He added that the Dubai financial crisis is also expected to feature high on the agenda.

Underlining the significance of the planned shared electrical network between GCC member countries, he said that the summit delegates are also expected to discuss this issue, as well as the plans to establish a trans-regional railroad network.

Businessman Mohammad bin Tawar said that the endorsement of the GCC united currency would have a great positive impact on the region's economies, stating that the united currency would help facilitate the flow of capital and boost regional trade and joint investment.

He said that the GCC countries are in dire need of a united currency that will contribute to the formation of a stronger economic bloc. Another entrepreneur, Mohammad Al-Ansari, said that the summit was important to enable the leaders of the six GCC states to review the means to confront challenges facing their economies. He said that the repercussions of the world financial crisis are not yet over, with the recent Dubai financial crisis taking a toll on the economies of all the GCC member states.

He also expressed a belief that important resolutions would be endorsed during the summit, including the electrical network agreement and the GCC monetary union accord. Another businessman, Mansour Al-Mansour, said that the summit delegates would review means to activate the GCC common market agreement and the Gulf private sector's participation in the region's ongoing development efforts. He said the private sector was also ready to play its part, in the service of the region's economies and people.

Meanwhile, the Ambassador of Kuwait to the Kingdom of Bahrain Sheikh Azzam Mubarak Al-Sabah yesterday reiterated his belief that the forthcoming summit will make a quantum leap in GCC joint action. "Kuwait will be a launching pad for a unified Gulf economic space, thanks to the economic vision of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah," said the ambassador.

He asserted that HH the Amir's economic vision will contribute effectively towards enabling the Gulf projects to see the light, adding that the prospects for their successful implementation were already strengthened by the success of this January's Arab Economic and

Social Development summit, also held in Kuwait. Ambassador Al-Sabah stressed the importance of the forthcoming summit's results in enabling the region to move towards the introduction of a single Gulf currency, the regional electricity network project and the railway project, as well as other projects that ensure a direct link between the Gulf Arab states. - Kuwait times