MUSCAT — The AGCC member states have not yet set the dates for convening the forthcoming summit which will be hosted by the Sultanate, Abdul Rahman bin Hamad Al Attiyah, secretary-general of the AGCC, has said.

“No new dates have yet been set as it is a procedural issue and it’s still under consultation.” Attiyah said the new dates will be announced in the days or weeks ahead.

According to a Saudi newspaper, consultations are under way among the AGCC member states to set new dates for the summit, which had been previously scheduled to be held in Muscat on November 24 and 25.

The most likely dates for the AGCC’s 29th summit is the end of this year, specifically December 29 and 30, as theses new dates suit all member states, it said.

An Omani Foreign Ministry official has been quoted by Ashraq Al Awsat as saying that Oman is discussing the new dates of the forthcoming summit with other AGCC member states.

The Omani official has underlined that the AGCC summit will not host any party from outside the AGCC member states, it said.

Previous AGCC summits were usually held in the first week of September every year, but because this year the time coincided with the pilgrimage season these states decided to move up the date to the last week of November. However, they later changed this date again and are contemplating holding the summit at the end of December.

Attiyah said that the Gulf finance ministers will meet in Riyadh this Saturday to discuss the global financial crisis. The AGCC Higher Council’s consultative panel ended a discussion of the ad hoc committees’ reports on inflation, the hike in prices and their social effects on citizens and on the AGCC states’ economies, the problem of the unemployed and the social impact of this problem, and ways of addressing it.

The consultative panel’s views on these issues will be referred to the AGCC’s Ministerial Council at its forthcoming meeting in preparation for referring them to the Higher Council at its forthcoming session scheduled to be held in Muscat.