Doha, 18 Sept 2024 (QNA)

The 72nd Meeting of GCC Undersecretaries of Ministries of Finance kicked off Wednesday at Hotel Plaza Doha participated by Undersecretaries of Ministry of Finance of respective states.

Assistant Undersecretary for Economic Affairs of State of Qatar, Dr. Saud bin Abdullah Al Attiyah chaired the meeting that discussed a number of topics, mainly the results of the meetings of the GCC Central Bank Governors Committee; the Board of Directors of the GCC Customs Union Authority; and the Gulf Common Market Committee.

During his opening speech, Dr. Saud bin Abdullah Al Attiyah said that the meeting comes within the framework of enhancing financial and economic cooperation and integration between the GCC countries and discussing ways to unify efforts to develop their financial and economic policies in a way that ensures the stability of the Gulf economy and achieves sustainable growth.

He emphasized that the GCC council has proven its ability to achieve many accomplishments in various fields, in light of the circumstances and challenges imposed by the current global economic situation.

He added that the GCC governments have agreed on several aspects that contribute to achieving economic unity and strengthening ties between them on solid foundations for the good of their peoples, in line with the basic system of the GCC council.

He said that achieving economic unity among the GCC countries requires the committee to intensify efforts and initiatives in all financial and economic fields to achieve tangible results. The committee’s role in this meeting is to complete the efforts made, follow up on the work progress, and ensure that it is on the right track.

For his part, Assistant Secretary-General for Economic and Development Affairs at the General Secretariat of the GCC, Khaled bin Ali Al Senaidi said that the meeting’s agenda is full of various significant topics related to joint financial and economic cooperation, through which the committee looks forward to reaching constructive decisions that contribute to the diligent work to advance the path of joint Gulf action to serve the citizens of the GCC countries and their well-being and achieve more coordination, integration, and interconnection between its countries.

He indicated that the meeting would discuss several topics related to enhancing financial and economic cooperation between the GCC countries, the recommendations submitted to the Financial and Economic Cooperation Committee by the GCC Committee of Governors of Monetary Institutions and Central Banks, the GCC Customs Union Authority, the recommendations of the GCC Committee of Heads and Directors of Tax Departments, and the recommendations of the Gulf Common Market Committee.

He stressed that the GCC countries have achieved many gains during their journey towards economic and developmental integration, indicating their determination to achieve Gulf economic unity to enhance joint Gulf action and that combining efforts in all economic and developmental projects is a way to maximize these gains.

The 72nd Meeting of GCC Undersecretaries of Ministries of Finance is a preparatory meeting for the 122nd GCC meeting of the Financial and Economic Cooperation Committee.