If the highlight of 2020 for Saudi Arabia was assuming the presidency of the G20 forum and hosting its final summit, albeit virtually, 2021 started even more promisingly with another major event, the 41st Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Summit at the ancient city of Al Ula.
Eagerly anticipated by the international community, the summit was symbolically named “Sultan Qaboos and Sheikh Sabah Summit”, commemorating the late leaders of Oman and Kuwait. The reconciliatory session marked a new era for the Council, after three and a half years of stalemate in the relations between neighboring Qatar on one side and Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, UAE, and Egypt on the other. The reopening of the borders with Qatar was announced on the eve of the summit and it was praised across the Gulf and beyond.
Chaired by His Highness, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, on behalf of The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz, the Summit was meant to strengthen the integration and cooperation among the GCC member states. The delegations exchanged mutual willingness to join their efforts in the fight with the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic consequences, in line with the commitments made by Saudi Arabia and its G20 partners.
A plan for setting up a center against COVID-19 was endorsed during the summit. It is aimed to be working under the existing GCC Health Council and to serve as a regional organ for combating the spread of other diseases.
The Summit concluded with the “Al Ula Declaration”, emphasizing the resolutions for “economic unity, joint defence and security mechanisms, and development of a unified foreign policy.” Priority of the memorandum are the GCC citizens – their mobility and wellbeing, freedom of work, and equal access to education, healthcare, food and water security.
The venue for the Summit was at Maraya Concert Hall, which recently set a Guinness World Record for the largest mirrored building in the world. The family photo in front of the majestic building went viral on social media, as well as the footage of the brotherly welcoming of the Emir of Qatar – Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani by His Highness, Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Their off-road stroll around the archeological site of Al Ula was followed with great interest.
In compliance with the decisions of the summit, flights to and from Qatar were resumed and the people from all Gulf countries who had been separated for more than three years from their families and friends finally reunited.
