GCC: Preparations for VAT, exercise with US

GCC: The Co-operation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC) was set up on 25 May 1981 in Abu Dhabi, when the leaders of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates agreed to establish a council whose aims were to “achieve unity”, formulate “similar regulations” in the economics, customs, commerce, communications, education and culture sectors, and to stimulate scientific and technological progress. In part founded as a reaction to the Iranian revolution and Iran-Iraq war, divisions and power imbalances slowed the GCC’s progress in its first three-and-a-half decades, despite high hopes and rhetoric.