Jeddah summit to tackle customs union roadblocks
Tuesday, September 08, 2009
Gulf oil producers are due to meet in Saudi Arabia today to try and tackle differences that have blocked the implementation of their historic customs union nearly six years after it was launched as the Middle East's first.
The finance and economy ministers of the six-nation Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) will hold two days of emergency talks in the Red Sea port of Jeddah in a bid to reach a common ground for a mechanism to distribute revenue from tariffs on foreign imports and put an end to persistent delays at border customs points.
The talks are the latest in a series of meetings by the six members seeking to put the customs union on track after launching a common market in early 2008 and to support plans by four GCC nations to launch a monetary union in 2010.
GCC states – the UAE, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman – launched the long-awaited customs union at the beginning of 2003 and set a transitional period of three years for the full enforcement of the project.
But rifts over tax revenue, border delays and other issues have blocked the implementation of the customs union, forcing the six members to extend the transitional period until the start of 2008 to coincide with the common market.
Early this year, the GCC finance ministries selected a consultancy firm to study the best way for customs revenue distribution to be presented to the Jeddah talks today, according to Saudi newspapers.
The study recommends that the revenues be distributed proportionately among members, considering their population, economy and imports.
It proposes that Saudi Arabia, by far the largest economy in the region, should get 42.77 per cent of the customs earnings while 25.75 per cent should go to the UAE. The rest is to be shared by Kuwait (10.92 per cent), Oman (9.52 per cent), Qatar (7.9 per cent) and Bahrain 3.15 (per cent).
"This meeting in Jeddah is extremely important as it will discuss all proposals about the customs union, mainly those presented recently by Qatar," said GCC Secretary-General Abdul Rahman Al Attiya.
"The proposals that will be reached at the talks will be presented to the foreign ministers at their meeting in Doha in October. They will study those proposals and present them at the GCC summit to be held in Kuwait in December."
Apart from the customs revenue rift, GCC countries are still undecided on how to tackle persistent delays at border points.
In recent comments to Emirates Business, GCC Chambers Federation Secretary-General Abdul Rahman Naqi said such problems include a decision by GCC nations to prevent transport companies in some member countries from opening branches or to reject licences for some of those companies to set up new firms.
"Other obstacles include restrictions on the movement of a large number of trucks to the ports in some GCC member countries besides many other barriers which we are trying to discuss with the competent authorities to find solutions."
http://www.business24-
Tuesday, September 08, 2009
Gulf oil producers are due to meet in Saudi Arabia today to try and tackle differences that have blocked the implementation of their historic customs union nearly six years after it was launched as the Middle East's first.
The finance and economy ministers of the six-nation Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) will hold two days of emergency talks in the Red Sea port of Jeddah in a bid to reach a common ground for a mechanism to distribute revenue from tariffs on foreign imports and put an end to persistent delays at border customs points.
The talks are the latest in a series of meetings by the six members seeking to put the customs union on track after launching a common market in early 2008 and to support plans by four GCC nations to launch a monetary union in 2010.
GCC states – the UAE, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman – launched the long-awaited customs union at the beginning of 2003 and set a transitional period of three years for the full enforcement of the project.
But rifts over tax revenue, border delays and other issues have blocked the implementation of the customs union, forcing the six members to extend the transitional period until the start of 2008 to coincide with the common market.
Early this year, the GCC finance ministries selected a consultancy firm to study the best way for customs revenue distribution to be presented to the Jeddah talks today, according to Saudi newspapers.
The study recommends that the revenues be distributed proportionately among members, considering their population, economy and imports.
It proposes that Saudi Arabia, by far the largest economy in the region, should get 42.77 per cent of the customs earnings while 25.75 per cent should go to the UAE. The rest is to be shared by Kuwait (10.92 per cent), Oman (9.52 per cent), Qatar (7.9 per cent) and Bahrain 3.15 (per cent).
"This meeting in Jeddah is extremely important as it will discuss all proposals about the customs union, mainly those presented recently by Qatar," said GCC Secretary-General Abdul Rahman Al Attiya.
"The proposals that will be reached at the talks will be presented to the foreign ministers at their meeting in Doha in October. They will study those proposals and present them at the GCC summit to be held in Kuwait in December."
Apart from the customs revenue rift, GCC countries are still undecided on how to tackle persistent delays at border points.
In recent comments to Emirates Business, GCC Chambers Federation Secretary-General Abdul Rahman Naqi said such problems include a decision by GCC nations to prevent transport companies in some member countries from opening branches or to reject licences for some of those companies to set up new firms.
"Other obstacles include restrictions on the movement of a large number of trucks to the ports in some GCC member countries besides many other barriers which we are trying to discuss with the competent authorities to find solutions."
http://www.business24-
