GCC's Doha summit held amidst ambitious aspirations

The 35th Summit of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) will be held in Doha, Qatar, next Tuesday amidst ambitious aspirations to complete the build up of the Arab Gulf bloc to be a solid and influential union at regional and international levels.
The Riyadh-based GCC Secretariat published a report Saturday highlighting key achievements of the Gulf bloc since its creation in 1981 in all domains, like military, security, political and economy.
The GCC, said the report, rejected Iran's occupation of three islands of the United Arab Emirates, fully supported UAE's sovereignty over Abu Moussa, Greater and Lesser Tunbs, and called on Iran to solve this issue either through direct negotiations or international arbitration.
The GCC, however, underlined importance of cooperation and relations with Iran on the basis of respect of sovereignty of regional countries, non-interference in internal affairs of the six GCC countries, good neighborly principles and refraining from the use of language of threat against Bahrain.
The Arab Gulf bloc urged Iran to abide by its international obligations regarding its nuclear program to ultimately addressed the concerns about this program and cleared the Arabian Gulf and Middle East region from weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and nuclear arms.
On Syria, the report said the GCC welcomed the outcome of the second donors conferences for the Syrian people held in Kuwait last January, as well as results of Friends of Syria meeting in Paris, also last January. The report however regretted failure of Geneva II conference to reaching concrete results that would end suffering of the Syrian people.
The GCC welcomed UN Security Council (UNSC) resolution 2139 over the lifting of siege on Syrian cities, halting attacks on civilians, facilitating entry of humanitarian aid convoys and backing a political solution based on communique of the June 30 2012 Geneva I conference.
The communique calls for formation of a transitional authority with executive powers aimed at preserving sovereignty, independence and unity of Syria.
On Palestine and Arab-Israeli conflict, the report noted that the GCC has always reaffirmed support of the Palestinian cause, importance of establishing the sovereign Palestinian state on the June 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, in line with relevant UNSC resolutions and Arab peace initiative.
The GCC, it said, rejected the continuation of construction of Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank as illegal.
 The GCC, said the report, supported all measures adopted by Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi to implement recommendations of the national dialogue in line with the GCC initiative and its executive mechanism.
It regretted tension caused by the escalation of the Houthi group.
The GCC welcomed formation of the Lebanese government, condemned the recent criminal bombings that killed and injured many innocent people in Lebanon.
The GCC also condemned the repeated explosions in Iraq, backed UNSC resolution 2107 which transferred file of prisoners, missing and Kuwaiti properties to the UN mission in Iraq (UNAMI).
The Gulf bloc also expressed concerns over the deterioration of security and military conditions in Libya. It welcomed the Egyptian Presidential elections.
Meanwhile, the report said the GCC approved a unified law to protect consumers, agreed with the Islamic Development Bank to prepare a food security strategy and forming an intellectual property committee, as well as approving draft regulations to supervise stocks' trading.
The GCC countries approved a host of economic, industrial and mining draft projects aimed at pushing forward the economies of the six GCC countries to a new level.
The report said the railway project was progressing, and the GCC countries approved draft laws over the preventive measures against contagious diseases and quarantine.
The member countries, added the report, were exerting efforts to improve efficiency of custom procedures, common market and construction codes, as well as adopting an anti-extremism strategy.
The report also mentioned strategic dialogues with Jordan, Morocco, the EU, Britain, the US, Australia, China, Russia, Mexico, South Korea, India Canada and Brazil.