The GCC Ministerial Council has praised the efforts made by Qatar, Egypt and the United States to reach a ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip. It emphasised the necessity of adhering to the agreement, halting the Israeli aggression on Gaza, and completely withdrawing from the Strip and all Palestinian territories.
The council, which concluded its meetings in the holy city of Makkah on Thursday, praised Qatar for organising the Doha Forum on Dec 7, 2024, providing a global platform for leading discussions on prominent global issues and challenges.
It reviewed the developments in joint Gulf action and the evolution of political issues regionally and internationally. It reiterated its commitment to the strength and cohesion of the GCC, the unity of its members, and the achievement of greater co-ordination, integration, and interconnectedness across all fields.
On the situation in Gaza, the council's final statement affirmed the GCC's solidarity with the brotherly Palestinian people in Gaza and its surroundings, calling for an end to the blockade imposed on the Strip, alleviating the plight of the Palestinian people, ensuring safe delivery of all humanitarian aid and essentials to Gaza's residents.
The council affirmed its support for the Palestinian-Egyptian-Arab plan, adopted by the extraordinary Arab summit "Palestine Summit" held on March 4 in Cairo. It stressed that the future of the Gaza Strip should be within the context of a unified Palestinian state and the implementation of the two-state solution.
It noted the efforts made by the GCC countries and Arab states on the political front to stop Israeli assaults on the Gaza Strip, the humanitarian and relief assistance provided by GCC countries to Gaza, and the popular campaigns to aid the Palestinian people and deliver humanitarian aid to the besieged residents.
The council stressed the importance of respecting the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Syria, and rejecting foreign interference in its internal affairs, and that Syria's security and stability are a fundamental pillar of the stability of the region's security.
It reaffirmed the steadfast positions of the GCC in support of Lebanon, stressing its continuous support for the country's sovereignty, security, and stability. It highlighted the importance of implementing comprehensive structural political and economic reforms to ensure that Lebanon overcomes its political and economic crisis.
The council affirmed the GCC's firm positions and decisions on the importance of preserving Sudan's sovereignty, security, stability and territorial integrity, supporting Sudan in confronting developments and repercussions of the current crisis, the need for calm, the need to favor dialogue and unify ranks, and return to the path of the political process leading to a civilian authority, alleviating the suffering of the brotherly Sudanese people, preserving the cohesion of national state institutions, preventing their collapse, and preventing the escalation of conflict and confrontations between the Sudanese parties, and urging them to engage seriously and effectively with crisis resolution initiatives, including the Jeddah Forum and neighbouring countries and others.
The Ministerial Council affirmed that the GCC's position on the Russian-Ukrainian crisis is based on the principles of international law and the UN Charter, maintaining the international order built on respecting the sovereignty of states, their territorial integrity, political independence, non-interference in their internal affairs, and the prohibition of the use of force or threats.
The Ministerial Council welcomed the outcomes of the joint ministerial meeting between the GCC and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, he Arab Republic of Egypt, the Kingdom of Morocco, and the Syrian Arab Republic held on March 6, 2025, in Makkah, underscoring the importance of enhancing economic relations with countries and international economic blocs to achieve the trade and investment interests of GCC states and to bolster their regional and international standing, including through negotiations on free trade agreements that the GCC is working on with several countries and international economic groups.
