RIYADH, Oct 13: Gulf Arab finance ministers discussed their response to the global economic slowdown and plans for integrating their economies at a meeting in Saudi Arabia on Saturday, delegates said.

We discussed recent (September 11) events in the United States and the economic and financial impact on the area, Bahrain’s Finance Minister Abdullah Saif told a news conference in the Saudi capital Riyadh.

We must have a vision in order to contain the negative impact and to take necessary steps, he said.

Delegates said the finance ministers from the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states had also discussed their contribution to the global crackdown on money-laundering with GCC central bankers on Friday night, in the wake of last month’s suicide plane attacks on New York and Washington.

The GCC groups Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

All GCC states have ordered a freeze on the assets of groups and individuals blacklisted by the United States, but none have yet reported freezing any assets.

Saif told Reuters that Bahrain, the Gulf’s banking hub, had so far not discovered any funds linked to the suspect groups.

Kuwait Central Bank Governor Sheikh Salem Abdul-Aziz al-Sabah told the Kuwait News Agency that banking and investment institutions in Kuwait and the GCC did not have any suspect bank accounts linked to those on the US blacklist.

Saturday’s meeting will also consider a Saudi proposal to reduce custom tariffs in the oil-rich region to five per cent by 2005, the target date for a unified trade zone.

The GCC had agreed in 1999 on common tariffs of between 5.5 to 7.5 per cent by 2005. The start date was approved as a compromise between regional power Saudi Arabia, with some of the highest tariffs in the GCC, and the UAE, with the lowest duties.

Saudi Arabia in May slashed duties on imported goods to five per cent from 12 per cent, as part of economic reforms aimed at attracting foreign investments and maintaining economic growth.

The move to create common tariffs is part of a wider plan by the GCC for a regional currency and the unified trade zone, and is designed to speed up free trade talks with the region’s biggest trading partner, the European Union.

Delegates told Reuters the ministers would probably also announce a target date for a single currency.

Gulf Arab leaders agreed last year on steps to issue a unified currency. They also approved that the US dollar would be the common denominator for the planned single currency.

Currencies of GCC states, with the exception of Kuwait, are pegged to the US dollar, in which their main crude oil export is traded. Kuwait’s dinar is linked to a basket of currencies.—Reuters