Saudi- Youth meet suggests a strong GCC union 

(MENAFN - Arab News) The Gulf Youth Conference focusing on transforming the Gulf Cooperation Council from a cooperation to a union that concluded yesterday here has come out with a series of recommendations.

The event featured the participation of a large number of selected young leaders from participating countries in addition to a number of researchers and experts.

The conference concluded with recommendations including implementing the initiative of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah calling for transforming the Gulf Cooperation Council from a cooperation to a union.

The initiatives represent the aspirations of the people of the Gulf and their demands for strategic plans that would support among others their educational and scientific needs required by the Gulf markets to guarantee them jobs.

According to the organizer, one of the recommendations was aimed at the transition from the state of cooperation to a state of the union to build a strong defensive entity to be able to meet all external threats.

Participants underlined the importance of the union in order to strengthen the position and power of Gulf states regionally and internationally and enhance their negotiating capacity in international forums.

They also urged the need for each state to strengthen existing political organs and create new institutions to strengthen the federal process itself.

Another proposal discussed widely is to strengthen the internal mechanisms of the proposed union by increasing political participation and the development of mechanisms within national and federal institutions.

Another recommendation was to achieve economic integration between the Gulf states aimed at diversifying their economic base and sources of income in order to secure the welfare of their people and strengthen international economic standing.

The union reflects the role of Gulf states as a major source of reliable power to support their global status on the international political and economic stages, participants said.

Consolidation of federal economic legislation with a commitment by Gulf states was another recommendation.

The union will work to increase employment opportunities for young people of the GCC and ease movement of people between the countries.

It was suggested that a unified center be created to support and guide young people in the labor market and facilitate the movement of people and money within the countries of the union.

Strengthening the role of civil society in the Gulf was discussed also with the interests of the youth and their constructive role in mind.

Federal institutions should move toward strengthening a culture of human rights and the values of equality of opportunity and balanced development within the countries of the proposed union based on a clear concept of social justice.

Political, educational and media institutions strengthen the social fabric of the Gulf states regardless of religious and sectarian, regional and intellectual differences and will help create a strong cohesive Gulf able to cope with regional and international changes, participants said.

There was also a proposal to create a unified set of official and private media policies for member countries to serve the goals of the federal structure.