Manama: Bahrain’s parliament has endorsed the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) security pact, saying that it was fully compatible with the country’s constitution and laws.
The lower chamber of the bicameral parliament went ahead with the agreement promoted as crucial in boosting collective security among the six-member states, following a recommendation in its favour by a parliamentary committee.
The security pact was approved by the GCC leaders at their advisory summit in Riyadh in May last year, but it needed to be signed by the interior ministers and endorsed by their parliaments. The ministers inked their approval in November.
GCC officials said that the agreement stipulated full cooperation between member states and mutual responsibilities to preserve their collective security and stability.
It also highlighted the need to promote common security arrangements to the highest standards to help combat transnational and organised crime, they said.
The six member countries, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, in December said at the Bahrain Summit that they endorsed an amended version of a Gulf security pact first announced at the Bahrain Summit in December 1994.
“The agreement aims to broaden cooperation, to unify and integrate security measures and to exchange expertise, potential and information in a manner that helps the concerned security agencies to assume their tasks according to the highest standards,” Bahrain’s foreign minister Shaikh Khalid Bin Ahmad Al Khalifa said.
