The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states need to involve their private sectors in the activation of the customs union, said a GCC report issued on Monday.
The public and private sectors go in parallel lines and have a common interest in the planned customs union, according to the report issued by the Federation of the GCC Chambers of commerce and industry.
The governments of the GCC countries need to involve the private sector in the discussion of the procedures and regulations relating to the customs union, it urged.
The union aims to facilitate the free movement of goods and unify the procedures relating to the veterinary quarantine and treating the products of a GCC origin as a national product, it noted.
As for the trade volumes among the GCC countries, the report said they went up from USD six billion in 1984 to over USD 85 billion in 2011.
In 2003, the first year of the enforcement of the customs union, the trade exchanges soared by 31 percent.
Data of bilateral trade between 2003 and 2008 show that it grew by an annual average of 28 percent, it added. (end) ay.gb KUNA 160108 Apr 13NNNN
