The annual summit of Arab monarchs in the Gulf opened in Manama on December 24th Monday with a call for closer economic integration and unity in the face of the turmoil which has swept much of the Middle East.
Mr King Hamad of host country Bahrain called for the Gulf Cooperation Council to provide a security umbrella for its peoples and urged economic complementarity between its 6 member states.
Mr Hamad in his address to GCC counterparts,Saudi Crown Prince Salman bin Abdul Aziz,standing in for King Abdullah who stayed away for health reasons,delivered an appeal for unity.
He said that''We aspire to a strong union with integrated economies,a joint foreign policy and a common defense system.''
Mr Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah,Kuwait's emir,called for humanitarian aid for Syrian civilians and urged Iran to reach a peaceful settlement with neighbors,including over three Gulf islands in dispute with the United Arab Emirates.
He said that a donor conference for civilians caught up in the Syrian conflict to be held at the end of January at the request of the United Nations.
Mr Sheikh Khaled bin Ahmed Al-Khalifa Bahrain's Foreign Minister said that''The two day summit is to focus on strengthening Gulf unity especially politically,economically,in defense,security and culturally.''
The meeting is also expected to discuss the conflict roiling Syria and the situation in Yemen.However,four of the six heads of state will not attend the annual gathering,which takes place in the wake of last year's Arab Spring uprisings which swept several Arab states but not the Gulf monarchies.
A diplomatic source said that the overall gross domestic product in 2011 of the GCC states Bahrain,Kuwait,Oman,Qatar,the UAE and Saudi Arabia amounted to 1.37 trillion dollars.