In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful.

We seek God’s assistance and guidance and rely upon Him and pray to the Almighty to embrace us in his care, He is able to do all things. And may blessings and peace be upon His Messenger, his family, his companions and upon those who remain guided until the day of reckoning.

My Brothers, Your Majesties and Highnesses, Leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council, Your Excellency the Secretary-General, Your Highnesses and Excellencies, members of the delegations:

It gives us great pleasure to welcome you in your homeland, the Sultanate of Oman, as dear guests on this blessed day that, with God’s permission, will witness the opening of the 29th Summit. We pray to the Almighty to guide us to achieve more benefits and prosperity for all of us.

We thank God for the achievements made so far during the blessed march of the Gulf Cooperation Council in various fields, and for the security, stability and welfare of all citizens, semi-integration of economic activities and freedom of the private sector which enables it to take part in the comprehensive development of our states.

We are determined – with God’s assistance and guidance – to preserve the achievements made by our states for the benefits of our citizens. And we will work for the implementation of more strategic comprehensive development programmes in their national and collective contexts.

The current world financial situation necessitates joint efforts with other countries to tackle and correct this situation in order to restore the economic and social programmes and guarantee the continuation of international trade and cooperation among nations. This should be based on a balanced economy, stable financial markets and the international banks. This requires finding a basis for the stability of oil prices that will not put a burden on consumers, meet the development requirements of developing countries and at the same time will not harm producing countries by preserving their development plans. We look forward to cooperation from all to realising this future vision.



My Brothers, Your Majesties and Highnesses:

It gives us pleasure to commend the efforts exerted by our brother His Highness Sheikh Hamed bin Khalifa al Thani, Emir of Qatar, in successfully steering the work of the previous session, and following up the implementation of its resolutions and the decisions of the Ministerial Committees during the period of his chairmanship.

We also extend our thanks and appreciation to the Ministerial Council, the various committees, His Excellency the Secretary-General, his aides and staff of the Secretariat-General for their efforts in preparing for this session.

We pray to God to grant us success and guide us to further progress and prosperity. May God’s peace, mercy and blessings be upon you all.