WASHINGTON, April 30, (KUNA): Kuwait and the other member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have been closely coordinating in face of terrorism, possible nuclear threats and external aggression, the Kuwaiti Deputy Prime Minister has affirmed.
Sheikh Dr Mohammed Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah, also the Foreign Minister of Gulf State, shed light on the challenges and opportunities of the GCC in the next half century in a seminar he gave at the Middle East Institute in Washington Thursday evening, entitled “The GCC in a Turbulent World.” Sheikh Mohammed indicated that since its inception, the “first direct existential threat to the GCC” came as a result of the 1990 Iraqi aggression against Kuwait.
“I am truly proud of the way the GCC exercised its collective security measures, in conjunction with its allies, principally the US, to restore and preserve its member states’ sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he said.

Sheikh Mohammed indicated that there is the geo-strategic/security challenges, where “instability in the neighboring countries, from the war in Afghanistan and security challenges in nearby Pakistan, to the Iranian confrontation with the international community, to the denial of the Palestinian people their right to an independent state, and the security risk of conflict in Yemen and the horn of Africa, all of these clear and present threats to the GCC represent a formidable challenge to an effective collective national security.” He added that “security arrangements between the GCC countries have become an indispensable component of the region’s security structure.”

Goal
“The GCC’s ultimate security goal is to protect its members from terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, nuclear proliferation and external aggression,” he affirmed.
He stressed that since the establishment of the GCC in the 80s, “we have taken on a preventive diplomacy approach to head off regional conflict.” According to the Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister, “the GCC states are aware of their strategic significance and their international responsibilities and obligations.
We have partnered with Nato, the EU and other regional security institutions to promote stability not only in the Gulf but in the greater Middle East as well.” Sheikh Mohammed noted that the GCC has taken the lead in several areas, such as “promoting the Arab peace initiative and supporting the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people for a viable and contiguous state with east Jerusalem as its capital.”
Other areas, he added, is “organizing a donors’ conference for Yemen to promote economic and political reform, and defeat terrorism, poverty and disease; supporting the political process in Iraq and working for its full reintegration into the Arab world; calling on Iran to fully implement the UNSC resolutions and the IAEA requirements, while recognizing the right to develop peaceful nuclear facilities within the oversight, and safeguards of the IAEA and international requirements.” Regarding the economic challenges, Sheikh Dr Mohammed said that the “most crucial challenge to the GCC in medium term is our over-reliance on one source of income,” saying “it is imperative that we succeed in diversifying our sources of income in order to minimize risk and secure future revenues.”
“Not only is our dependence on oil as our primary source of income dangerous in the long term, but our complete dependence on it as our only source of energy is also unsustainable,” he stressed.
Sheikh Mohammed affirmed that Kuwait “supports current international efforts to develop complementary multilateral approaches to assure nuclear fuel supply and services while safeguarding against proliferation.” He indicated that the Kuwaiti Government has pledged $10 million to complete the $150 million capital required to realize this project, and that Kuwait “is also an observing member of the US led Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) and is planning to join as a full member soon.” “We recognize that for the foreseeable future, hydrocarbon revenues will remain an important part of our national economies,” Sheikh Mohammed noted, and that the “challenge will be how to mitigate the impacts of the fluctuations in oil prices on our national budgets and development plans.”

Plans
He stressed “our diversification plans are certainly one prong of this strategy,” while the other prong “derives from our efforts to stabilize the oil market, thereby creating greater economic certainty as we draft our national budgets.” He affirmed that as a collective body, the GCC “remains committed to an oil policy that provides energy security for the world, through maintenance of a stable equilibrium in the oil market at price levels that stimulate economic development in both producing and consuming nations.”
“With one-tenth of the world’s oil reserves, Kuwait is steadfast in its commitment to maintaining, as well as increasing its spare production capacity to continue to be a reliable source of energy for the world,” Sheikh Mohammed affirmed.
He indicated that only states such as “Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the UAE will invest billions of dollars to increase production capacity and leave it idle in order to comfort oil markets that in case of curtailment of production anywhere else in the world, additional barrels of oil can quickly be brought to the market to stabilize the global economy,” which he stressed “No other country will do that.”
He added that another economic challenge facing the GCC countries is “the integration of our economies to create an effective trading bloc with the rest of the world.” “The current global economic instability poses a significant challenge to us and we must unite to face this challenge to us and we must unite to face this challenge and work towards protecting and safeguarding our economies from these financial and economic shocks,” he remarked.
As for the long term strategic challenges to the GCC states, Sheikh Mohammed noted that “by far the foremost challenge to the GCC security and development in the long term is the challenge of demography,” where he indicated to the large difference in the percentage of foreign workers to total workforce.

Makeup
“These vast discrepancies in the demographic makeup of all the GCC countries represent a warning sign of the serious threats of the social, political and cultural fabric of the GCC society,” he stressed.
According to Sheikh Mohammed Al-Sabah, “the main cause of this major dislocation in the demographic profile can be found in the fundamental disequilibrium in the labor market,” saying that the “continuous inflow of cheap foreign labor, reinforces the distorted structure of incentives in favor of an outdated and inefficient economic mode of production.”
Furthermore, Sheikh Mohammed stressed that the private sector “must be the promoter of job creation,” where the Kuwaiti private sector is “already attracting some of the brightest minds in the country.” “A key indicator of whether this law is successful is whether we see greater Kuwaitis being employed by the private sector in a few years from now, “ he indicated.
“I can see challenges and opportunities. I can see clear and present dangers to GCC security that needs immediate actions.

Also:
Sheikh Mohammad also met in Washington Thursday with top US lawmakers to discuss a number of bilateral and regional issues.
Sheikh Mohammad met with Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Senator John Kerry, Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs Howard Berman and Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Committee John McCain.
Kuwait’s Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister told KUNA and Kuwait Television following his meetings that he discussed mutual issues that Kuwait and the US share, namely the political and economic developments and reforms which Kuwait is carrying out, the most recent is the developmental projects and privatization and the progress in the human rights and women rights in Kuwait.
He added that this “major development” in Kuwait was of praise by the lawmakers he met.
Sheikh Mohammad said the regional security was also discussed, such as the Iraqi and Iranian issues, where “we affirmed and stressed the importance that the Iranian file is resolved through international legitimate channels and that the use of force is rejected, and there should be an international conformity of any movement towards the Iranian nuclear file and everyone should be subject to the IAEA considerations, especially in light of the NPT review conference, which is due in New York next week.”

He indicated that they also discussed the Mideast Peace Process and the actions of the Israeli Prime Minister which “not only hinder but fully damage” the Peace Process, saying “the Arabs remain adherent to peace, where the burden now lies on Israel,” affirming “our agreement with the visions of the US Administration in this regard.” “We also discussed Syria, where we see that Syria plays an important role,” Sheikh Mohammad indicated, where he said that Israel’s allegations against Syria are used by Israel “to cover up for its crimes against the Palestinian people, therefore we have to re-affirm that resolving these matters are through the revival of life to the Mideast peace process.” Meanwhile, Senator Kerry told the press before his meeting with Sheikh Dr Mohammad that Kuwait has a “very special” relationship with the United States.
The Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister is also scheduled to meet during his visit Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and National Security Advisor General James Jones.
Sheikh Dr Mohammad will also be giving a lecture at the Middle East Institute over the situation of the GCC in light of the rapid regional developments.