Bahrain Mirror: Minister of the Shura and Representatives Councils Ghanim bin Fadhel Al Buainain retreated his statement regarding the Gulf Union, in which he stated that the latter will be on the agenda of the next Gulf Summit, and that Gulf country might announce the formation of the union without Oman, whose position is against its formation.

According to Bahrain News Agency (BNA), Al Buainain criticized some newspapers for "lacking accuracy in reporting his statement on the GCC union. He affirmed that he had never pointed out that the union will be announced in the next summit, in Bahrain, without Oman." 

The Bahraini Minister further told BNA, "Saying the issue of the GCC union will be on the summit's agenda cannot be understood and does not mean in any way that the union will be announced without Oman."

He also commended Oman's stances, emphasizing Bahrain's respect to it and stressing deep-rooted fraternal relations between both countries. The Minister of the Shura and Representatives Councils underlined "Oman's keenness on carrying out the decisions of the GCC summits which reflects interest in achieving maximum integration with the brotherly GCC countries."

Gulf newspaper had published on Saturday (November 26, 2016) statements for Minister Al Buainain saying that the Gulf Union file will be ready at the GCC leaders' summit to be hosted by Bahrain next month. He confirmed that "The Union might be established without Oman", adding that "Muscat's position from the Union is known and respected, but we must not stand at this point. There could be a union, and the GCC would be there for those who wish to be part of it."

Al Buainain added, "If the Gulf Union was established, it would be much more advanced than the GCC; meaning that the countries that wish to join it with political, economic, and other steps would be in an advanced state." He also indicated that "those who wish to remain in the GCC can. Oman is appreciated, and its wisdom is indispensable, yet we cannot stop at this level. I think that there would always be solutions that would lead to forming the Union."

Al-Buainain confirmed, "As a Bahraini official responsible for the committee of Gulf Summits' decisions implementations, I believe that there is a good approach by the Member States for this project. In those meetings we always give the heads of participating delegations to update the data and information concerning his country's implementation of decisions agreed upon. The Riyadh meeting was very good, and we have assigned the statistics center in Muscat to follow up on the ground, and I can say that things are good."

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