Dubai: The Gulf Cooperation Council's (GCC) location of the planned Gulf central bank in Riyadh is not open to negotiation despite objections by the UAE, a Saudi official said on Sunday.
Ebrahim Al Assaf, the Saudi Finance Minister, said in an interview with Reuters that his country and three other Gulf states will proceed with their monetary union plan, although the UAE and Oman said they will not join the agreement.
"It is not derailed, it will continue. The monetary union will proceed as planned," he said.
The UAE said two weeks ago it will not join Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain in the plan in protest over the decision to base the central bank in Riyadh.
Asked if the location of the central bank was open to renegotiation, Al Assaf said: "No. There is a decision that has been taken by our leaders."
Al Assaf's comment was aired a day after President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan received in Abu Dhabi Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al Faisal.
According to WAM, the talks underlined "the fraternal relations and ways of bolstering them in all fields, as well as a number of regional and international issues of common interest".
UAE Foreign Minister Shaikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan said last month the UAE would consider rejoining the union if the terms change and its neighbours agree to allow a joint central bank to be based in the UAE.
The four remaining countries are due to meet on June 7 to sign the monetary union agreement, the GCC Secretary-General Abdul Rahman Al Attiyah said at a meeting of GCC finance ministers in Muscat on Saturday
- With inputs from Reuters
© Gulf News 2009
