May 28, 2002	Tuesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 15,1423

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RIYADH, May 27: A consultative summit of the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) urged Pakistan and India to show maximum restraint and cooperate with global mediation efforts to defuse the explosive situation between the two countries.

The GCC Secretary-General Abdul Rahman Al-Attiyeh while speaking at a press conference at the end of the briefing on the outcome of the consultative summit, called upon the two countries to settle their dispute peacefully through dialogue. “The GCC leaders expressed their deep concern over the dangerous situation in the subcontinent and urged India and Pakistan to show maximum restraint and return to the positive atmosphere they had in the past,” the GCC Secretary-General added.

“The two countries should also cooperate with international mediation efforts aimed at containing the crisis and try to resolve their conflict through dialogue and peaceful methods,” he emphasised.

The GCC leaders during their one-day meeting in Jeddah also reiterated their commitment to peace as the ‘strategic choice of Arab Ummah’ and rejected all forms of violence. They saluted the Palestinians for their heroic resistance to the Israeli occupation forces.

Asked whether the renunciation of violence included Palestinian suicide bombers, Al-Attiyeh said, “the legality of resisting occupation is recognized by all international laws.”

Crown Prince Abdullah briefed the GCC leaders about the outcome of his deliberations with various world leaders including President Bush.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal later told the press that the GCC leaders also discussed ways to strengthen the regional bloc, GCC.

“The GCC leaders expressed their support for the efforts to activate the Arab peace plan,” the Secretary-General added.

On the economic front the leaders reviewed a report on the implementation of the GCC’s modified economic agreement, which envisages the establishment of a customs union by January 2004, a monetary union by 2005 and a single currency by 2010.

The GCC Secretary-General hoped that the impending visit to Iran by the UAE’s minister of state for foreign affairs Shaikh Hamdan ibn Zayed would strengthen ties between the two Islamic countries and reinforce peace and stability in the Gulf region.

The GCC leaders also urged Iraq to implement fully the UN resolutions. They also withheld any support to any outside attempt to overthrow the Saddam regime in Iraq, which US is believed to be covertly trying to achieve.