"We met with a team of experts from the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) as well as energy, planning and nuclear technology experts in Riyadh to establish the general framework for this study," Abderrahman Al-Attiya said in an interview broadcast on Al-Jazeera television.
He was interviewed by the pan-Arab network in Vienna where he had met with IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei, whose agency issued a report Thursday saying Iran had failed to comply with UN demands to halt uranium enrichment.
At a summit in Riyadh in December, the GCC’s six members — Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — set out plans for a joint civil nuclear programme.
The GCC programme would conform "to international norms and transparency" and would have "peaceful uses," particularly for electricity production and water desalination, Attiya said.
"We have total confidence in (the assurances of) Iranian leaders of the peaceful nature of their nuclear programme," Attiya added, saying they were "preoccupied with Israel’s refusal to submit to international law" over its presumed atomic arsenal.
"We hope that the Gulf region, including the Gulf, will be declared a weapons of mass destruction free zone."
