New Delhi, Feb 17: The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has called for broad-based economic cooperation between Gulf countries and India, with an agreement for free trade being the most favoured step. A day before the first-ever India-GCC industrial conference in Mumbai, being jointly organised by the external affairs ministry, commerce and industry ministry and CII, the GCC delegation led by Secretary General Abdulrahman bin Hamad al Attiyah met Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani yesterday. They discussed the possibility of extension of GCC countries to India in terms of business. The delegation earlier met External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha as part of India-GCC dialogue initiated at the ministerial level in New York on September 26 last on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. ''We are appreciative of the response from Advani and we hope to explore business activities in India. The meeting was fruitful for preparing a framework in this regard,'' Attiyah told reporters after the meeting. He said the GCC, comprising UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman and Kuwait, was keen to have an agreement with India on free trade and negotiations in this regard would take place at the earliest. ''A political dialogue must take place on this issue,'' he said. The GCC delegation told Advani that the Indian community in the Gulf countries was playing a constructive role Attiyah said he appreciated the Indian government's stand on Palestine and urged to push for addressing the Arab problem under the United Nations resolution. Complimenting the Centre for its peace initiative vis-à-vis Pakistan, he said the visit of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to Islamabad and its outcome was commendable. Noting that terrorism was a global phenonmenon, the GCC said the international community should come together to counter it. He also discussed the Indian government's stand on Iraq and said the reconstruction of Iraq should take place under an elected sovereign government. GCC, established in 1981, has over the years emerged as a successful example of efforts aimed at regional economic cooperation and integration. It has set a timetable for establishing customs union and monetary union by 2005 and single currency by 2010. Bureau Report