Emir of Kuwait Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah presides over the annual summit of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), in Kuwait City, Kuwait, December 5, 2017. REUTERS/Assad Hani
The structure of the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) might have to change in the near future to face upcoming challenges, the Emir of Kuwait has said.
H H Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah made the remarks on Tuesday as a summit of the GCC in Kuwait City concluded abruptly on Tuesday instead of Wednesday, with all the delegates leaving Kuwait after a closed session.
”We might change the system of the GCC to have mechanisms to better face challenges,” Sheikh Sabah said, referring to the GCC crisis that began on June 5.
On that day, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE - all GCC members - cut ties and imposed a blockade on Qatar.
Sheikh Sabah also hinted at the possibility of setting up a task force to deal with future rifts within the GCC.
”The truth is, the GGC already has a mechanism to form a task force to deal with internal disputes,” Al Jazeera’s Jamal Elshayyal, reporting from Kuwait City, said.
”A lot of criticism in the last few months has come from people asking where has this task force been to solve the GCC crisis.
”The reality is, if there was genuine interest to solve this, then we would have at least the deputy heads of state here.”
The meeting in Kuwait City - the 38th annual GCC summit - took place exactly six months after the announcement of the siege of Qatar.
”The mere fact that it convened is major progress, especially in the abscene of true progress in bridging the gap between Qatar and, on the other hand, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Bahrain,” Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst Marwan Bishara said.
