The Second Meeting of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Petrol and Critical Infrastructures Protection Committee Kicked off today morning (Sunday) at the Rocco Forte Hotel in Abu Dhabi. The two days meeting was chaired by Colonel Salah Salem Saif, Head of the Bahraini delegation.
Brigadier Staff Pilot Abdullah Saeed Al Shamsi Director of the Critical Infrastructure and Coastal Protection Authority, head of the UAE delegation, delivered a key note in the opening session in which he welcomed the heads and members of the GCC delegations in their second country the UAE. He valued the efforts made the General Secretariat of the GCC to promote mutual cooperation and coordination between the GCC countries in several fields especially security, with the aim to ensure security and safety for the nationals and residents of these countries.
He said: “The Arabian Gulf region has a significant importance economically and strategically. The GCC countries witnessed a comprehensive developmental renaissance, and a remarkable advancement in the industrial and oil sectors, and this led to holding meetings between GCC countries to come up with recommendations and decisions that will enhance the protection of vital oil and industry infrastructures in the GCC.”
He added that these vital infrastructures constitute the economic pillars of the GCC, and their protection therefore is a priority of the GCC since the GCC security is an integral component for these countries. He noted that the GCC countries have made collective efforts to protect and secure these infrastructures, and they exchanged experiences, information and best practices in this regard.
As a result of the established approach of the UAE higher eldership, Al Shamsi stressed that the UAE has taken into consideration the importance of protecting and securing the vital infrastructure. He said that for this purpose, the Critical Infrastructure and Coastal Protection Authority was establish. The Authority is considered to be the safety valve of these infrastructures.
Concluding, he expressed the hope that the meeting will reach to good results related to the security and protection of oil, industrial and critical infrastructures, and that it will contribute in exchanging experiences, knowledge and best practices applied in GCC countries for the sake of the achieving security and stability in the Gulf region.
Colonel Salah Salem Saif, Head of the Bahraini delegation, chairman of the meeting, gave the opening speech in which he thanked the UAE for the generous welcoming and the amazing organization of the event. He also thanked GCC Ministers of Interior for their unlimited support to all forms of cooperation and coordination which had an enormous effect on the unity of the GCC front and the GCC destiny.
He extended his gratitude to the GCC General Secretariat for its continuous efforts and endeavors to promote cooperation between the GCC countries. He also thanked Dr. Abdullatif bin Rashid Al-Zayani GCC Secretary General for his sincere efforts to serve and stay in line with the aspirations of the region’s peoples.
Concluding he expressed his hope that the proceedings of the meeting will reach to positive outcomes that would be in the interest of the GCC countries and contribute to strengthening mutual cooperation in ensuring industrial and critical infrastructures security. He noted that this would promote the frameworks for enhancing mutual cooperation and reflect the brotherly relation between the leasers and people of the GCC countries.
Colonel Al Bu Hindi, Deputy of the Assistant Secretary General for Security Affairs in the GCC General Secretariat, delivered a speech in which he conveyed the greetings of the GCC Secretary General and the Assistant Secretar