Deliberations of the preparatory meeting for the Supreme Military Committee of the GCC Chiefs of Staff took place in Muscat Monday.
The meeting was held at Al Shafaq Club of the Sultan’s Armed Forces (SAF) under the chairmanship of Brigadier Hamid Abdullah Al Balushi, SAF Assistant Chief of Staff for Operations and Planning, in the presence of Air Vice Marshal Issa Rashid Al Mohannadi, Assistant Secretary for Military Affairs at the GCC Secretariat General and Major General Sultan Mohammed Al Ma’amari, Head of the Operations and Training Unit at the Unified Military Command.
The meeting discussed areas of military cooperation among the GCC countries. It also touched on various topics of common concern to the GCC countries, Oman News Agency (ONA) reported.
Meanwhile, the 9th meeting of the Ministerial Committee concerned with combating corruption in the GCC countries was also held in Oman Monday.
Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi, Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) participated in the meeting that was headed by Shaikh Ghosn bin Hilal Al Alawi, Omani Chairman of the State Audit Institution and Chairman of the current session. Members of the Committee of Ministers concerned with combating corruption in the GCC countries were present at the meeting.
The Secretary General emphasised the keenness of the leaders of the Cooperation Council countries to empower all government agencies, with the aim to strengthen and develop their tools for governance, transparency, accountability, integrity, and combatting corruption, through the exchange of experiences and visits between specialists in GCC agencies, Bahrain News Agency (BNA) reported.
He emphasised the importance of leveraging the agreement reached within the framework of the G20 and the Riyadh Initiative regarding cooperation in investigations into cross-border corruption cases and prosecution of their perpetrators, given the significant impact corruption has on economic development and growth.
Albudaiwi noted that combating corruption has globally gained great importance in recent years, in light of the growing negative impact of corruption on the efforts made by states to develop their economies, and due to its dangerous cross-border social and political effects, threatening the stability, security and status of these countries regionally and internationally.
He said that the Ministerial Committee concerned with combating corruption in the GCC countries, since its establishment, has contributed to strengthening integration and cooperation in the field of protecting integrity and combating corruption among the GCC countries, by adopting the relevant laws and regulations, the most recent of which was the approval of the public fund system.
The Secretary General underlined the importance of adopting transparent policies and taking clear and bold decisions, given the great danger that the phenomenon of corruption poses to societies, which would destroy state institutions and negatively affect economies.
He expressed pride in the transparent and clear steps taken by the GCC countries towards dealing with corruption and confronting the perpetrators, ranking it among the most prominent countries in regional and international anti-corruption indexes.
