New Delhi, Feb 15: Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) secretary general Abdulrahman bin Hamad al-Attiyah will arrive here today on a four-day official visit to India for discussions with External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha and to attend the first ever India-GCC industrial conference in Mumbai. An external affairs ministry spokesman said that during his two-day stay in Delhi on February 15 and 16, al-Attiyah will have discussions with the External Affairs Minister as part of the India-GCC dialogue initiated at the ministerial level in New York on September 26, 2003, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
During the Mumbai leg of his visit on February 17 and 18, the GCC Sec Gen will participate in the first ever India-GCC industrial conference being organised jointly by the Ministries of External Affairs and Commerce and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
Commerce Ministers from the six members of the GCC -- Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, UAE and Oman -- will also participate in the conference. Kuwait, which is currently the GCC chairman, will co-chair the conference.
The September 26 dialogue on the sidelines of the UNGA between the External Affairs Minister and GCC chairman, secretary general and ministers from GCC countries was the first ever India-GCC dialogue which marked a new beginning in India-GCC relations.
The dialogue which will now be an annual feature, is an institutional mechanism for a structured political dialogue, adding an important dimension to the substantial India-GCC relations already existing in political, economic, commercial and cultural fields and people-to-people contacts. Bureau Report