10 February, 2010 GCC's bank governors to hold talks
GCC central bank governors will hold the first meeting of their joint monetary council on March 30, the next step towards monetary union, the head of the GCC was quoted as saying yesterday.
The governors of the four Gulf states planning monetary union Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait will discuss legal and administrative issues in order "to speed up the single currency," Abdulrahman Al Attiyah, the bloc's secretary-general, was quoted as saying by Qatar's state news agency QNA.
Rulers from the world's top oil exporting region endorsed the much-delayed monetary union in December despite the withdrawal last year of the UAE and Oman, which pulled out in 2006.
At the meeting, the governors will form a board of directors for the project, Al Attiyah said.
Al Attiyah said there was still hope the UAE, which opted out of the monetary union in May in protest over a decision to base the Gulf central bank in Saudi Arabia, would change its mind.
"We hope the UAE will return to the fold," he said.
The UAE's withdrawal dealt a serious blow to the project.
Ibrahim Al Ibrahim, an advisor to Qatar's ruler, yesterday said he thought the UAE would likely return to the project.
"I have a feeling they'll come back," he said.
The GCC abandoned last year an initial deadline for issuing common notes and coins this year, saying a joint monetary council would determine a new timetable for its issuance. Al Attiyah did not offer any indication as to whether this meeting would discuss a new timetable for the project.
GCC central bank governors will hold the first meeting of their joint monetary council on March 30, the next step towards monetary union, the head of the GCC was quoted as saying yesterday.
The governors of the four Gulf states planning monetary union Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait will discuss legal and administrative issues in order "to speed up the single currency," Abdulrahman Al Attiyah, the bloc's secretary-general, was quoted as saying by Qatar's state news agency QNA.
Rulers from the world's top oil exporting region endorsed the much-delayed monetary union in December despite the withdrawal last year of the UAE and Oman, which pulled out in 2006.
At the meeting, the governors will form a board of directors for the project, Al Attiyah said.
Al Attiyah said there was still hope the UAE, which opted out of the monetary union in May in protest over a decision to base the Gulf central bank in Saudi Arabia, would change its mind.
"We hope the UAE will return to the fold," he said.
The UAE's withdrawal dealt a serious blow to the project.
Ibrahim Al Ibrahim, an advisor to Qatar's ruler, yesterday said he thought the UAE would likely return to the project.
"I have a feeling they'll come back," he said.
The GCC abandoned last year an initial deadline for issuing common notes and coins this year, saying a joint monetary council would determine a new timetable for its issuance. Al Attiyah did not offer any indication as to whether this meeting would discuss a new timetable for the project.
