GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council)

GCC Overview:

What is GCC:

GCC is a Middle-Eastern regional intergovernmental, political, and economic international organization. The acronym GCC stands for Gulf Cooperation Council. The word "Gulf" is included with the name of this organization because these all GCC countries + Iraq called Gulf countries because they are all situated in the Persian Gulf. Iraq is not a member of the Gulf Cooperation Council.

When was the GCC Established:

The charter of the gulf cooperation council was signed on May 25, 1981, in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

GCC Member States:

Currently, GCC comprises six member states, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.

Bahrain	Kuwait
Oman	UAE

Qatar

Saudi Arabia

The Objectives of GCC:

To coordinate between the member states in all the fields to achieve unity.

To formulate similar regulations in the fields of economic and financial affairs, commerce, customs and communications, education and culture, social and health affairs, information, and tourism affairs, and legislative and administrative affairs.

GCC Governance:

Supreme Council of GCC: It is the highest authority of the gulf cooperation council and it is formed of heads of states of member states.

It sets the vision and goal of the GCC.

The supreme council holds one regular session every year.

If two-third of the member states attend the meeting, it is considered valid and every member state has one vote in the council.

Ministerial Council of GCC: It is formed of the foreign ministers of the member states.

It convenes the meeting every three months.

It proposes the policies, prepare recommendations, studies, and projects aimed at developing cooperation and coordination between member states in various fields.

Secretary General of GCC: The Supreme Council appoints the secretary-general.

It takes the decisions within its authority and implements decisions approved by the supreme council.

GCC Headquarters:

The headquarters of the GCC is situated in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

India and GCC Relations:

India is not a member of GCC because this is a gulf national's regional organization however relations of India and gulf countries are very good and friendly. The bilateral trade between India and the GCC has estimated more than $120 billion also millions of Indian people live in GCC countries due to friendly relations. India is a big market for GCC countries and they are petroleum-rich countries and also GCC countries' market is important for India to export Indian products.