JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia, May 23 (Reuters) - Gulf Arab countries planning a monetary union should take some time to draw lessons from the troubles in the euro zone and give fiscal policies equal importance in the process, Kuwait's foreign minister said on Sunday.
'There are a lot of lessons' to be drawn from the euro zone problems, the foreign minister, Mohammad Sabah al-Salem al-Sabah, said.
'We should pause a little bit and try to learn from what happened with the European monetary union. It would be irresponsible to proceed 'business as usual' without minding or ... (learning) from the euro problem,' he said.
Sabah spoke to reporters in the Saudi Red Sea port city of Jeddah after a meeting of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) foreign ministers. In addition to Kuwait, which currently holds GCC's rotating presidency, the bloc includes Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Oman and the United Arab Emirates have pulled out of the monetary union scheme, which has initially been planned to start before the end of 2010 with the launch of a single currency.
'We want to do it at the right time and in the right format,' Sabah said. 'We have to first and foremost think seriously about not only monetary policy but also fiscal policy, and that requires the harmonization of our budgetary policies. ...
'The 'pause' doesn't mean delay,' he added.
Some GCC officials had acknowledged that the Gulf Arab monetary union might be delayed to as far as 2015 even before onset of Greece's sovereign debt problems heightened concerns over the strength of some euro zone states.
(Reporting by Asma Alsharif, Writing by Souhail Karam; Editing by Leslie Adler) Keywords: GULF UNION/MONETARY (souhail.karam@thomsonreuters.com; Riyadh Newsroom +966 1 463 2603) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
'There are a lot of lessons' to be drawn from the euro zone problems, the foreign minister, Mohammad Sabah al-Salem al-Sabah, said.
'We should pause a little bit and try to learn from what happened with the European monetary union. It would be irresponsible to proceed 'business as usual' without minding or ... (learning) from the euro problem,' he said.
Sabah spoke to reporters in the Saudi Red Sea port city of Jeddah after a meeting of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) foreign ministers. In addition to Kuwait, which currently holds GCC's rotating presidency, the bloc includes Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Oman and the United Arab Emirates have pulled out of the monetary union scheme, which has initially been planned to start before the end of 2010 with the launch of a single currency.
'We want to do it at the right time and in the right format,' Sabah said. 'We have to first and foremost think seriously about not only monetary policy but also fiscal policy, and that requires the harmonization of our budgetary policies. ...
'The 'pause' doesn't mean delay,' he added.
Some GCC officials had acknowledged that the Gulf Arab monetary union might be delayed to as far as 2015 even before onset of Greece's sovereign debt problems heightened concerns over the strength of some euro zone states.
(Reporting by Asma Alsharif, Writing by Souhail Karam; Editing by Leslie Adler) Keywords: GULF UNION/MONETARY (souhail.karam@thomsonreuters.com; Riyadh Newsroom +966 1 463 2603) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.