Middle East News
Jordan to hold Gulf Cooperation Council membership talks next month
Aug 27, 2011, 16:50 GMT
Amman - Jordan will hold the first round of talks with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states in Jeddah on September 11 to lay down a roadmap for the Hashemite Kingdom's admission to the oil-rich bloc, Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh said Saturday.
He said that he had received an official invitation for the two-day meeting from the United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah al-Nahyan.
Leaders of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman decided during a meeting in Riyadh in May to accept Jordan as new member in the GCC.
Arab media then suggested that the step was prompted by uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt and the demonstrations they inspired in other Arab countries, including Jordan and Bahrain.
The first round of talks between Judeh and the GCC foreign ministers was due to be held early in August, but it was postponed - reportedly after reservations by some GCC countries over Jordan's joining of the pact.
Judeh said that both Jordan and the GCC countries stood to gain from Amman's admission to the group.
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