KUWAIT CITY, Dec 18: Foreign ministers of the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nations have endorsed the agenda for the 18th annual GCC summit conference starting in Kuwait city on Saturday. Top of the agenda for the leaders of the GCC states of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was to be regional security, focusing on Iraq and developing closer relations with Iran. The summit meeting is scheduled to end on December 22.

Following yesterday's meeting, Kuwait's deputy premier and foreign minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah, said a major topic would be the decisions emerging from last week's Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) in Tehran that called for more cooperation and unity among Islamic states.

Saudi Arabia's foreign minister, Prince Saud Al-Faisel, said the summit agenda was finalised at the ministerial conference. Ministers had held two days of preparatory talks in late November in Kuwait and approved a working outline that listed the issues of regional security. The leaders are expected to exchange views on the GCC role in supporting international efforts in dealing with Iraqi non-compliance with UN Security Council resolutions related to the 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and the subsequent Gulf war, especially the UN-Iraqi standoff on weapons inspections.

Observers said the GCC appeared to be united on wanting Baghdad to fully implement the UN Resolutions.

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