US-Gulf meetings to follow up on summit decisions

Abdel Aziz Aluwaisheg, assistant secretary-general for negotiations and strategic dialogue at the Gulf Cooperation Council, said the meetings of the joint defense and security committees between the US and GCC countries will soon be held to follow up on the decisions taken in the recently held summit, and will focus on deploying missile early warning systems.

Aluwaisheg was speaking in a meeting held at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington. He said the summit results "exceeded all expectations," and President Obama explicitly and effectively clarified the contents of the nuclear agreement negotiated with Iran, and that Washington is clearly aware of the issues that worry Gulf States concerning the agreement.

He said the negotiated agreement is not regarded as a major deal with Iran, nor does it represent a regional shift. It is aimed to limit Iran's nuclear programs by conducting unprecedented inspections on its nuclear activities.

He added that the GCC is waiting for the details of the agreement to take a solid stand against it.

"The American side has spoken on additional measures to be taken and the return to sanctions if Tehran breaches any of the terms of the agreement," he said.

He explained that the shape and details of the nuclear agreement, if done by the end of June, as the White House said, is "the best we can get to put a curb on the nuclear program."

On Gulf-US relations, he said the summit was unprecedented in its commitments and guarantees, as well as the strategic partnership between the two sides.

"It (the US) has pledged to protect the Gulf from any outside attack," he added, noting that there is in place a Gulf-US convergence on the current disputes in the region.

"The summit discussed the security of borders, terrorism, Hezbollah and the Iranian intervention in the internal affairs of GCC countries," he said, describing Hezbollah as "the center of distinguished terrorism."

He confirmed that further meetings will be held in the coming weeks to discuss the security files, the technologies of the ballistic missile network, security and defense solidarity and the early warnings systems discussed in the summit, adding: "Joint committees were formed which will meet soon under the directions of Obama, and will follow up on all the issues."

Copyright: Arab News © 2015 All rights reserved. Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc.