Addressing the meeting, Omani Shura Council Speaker Sheikh Ahmad Al-Is’ai said the meeting came ahead of the 29th summit of the GCC leaders in Muscat within a few days’ time.
He thanked all the GCC leaders for their relentless support for Gulf parliaments and legislative councils, which he termed as core pillars for social and economic development.
The meeting comes at a critical time when the global economic downturn has negatively affected most world economies, he said.
He voiced confidence that the GCC leaders would do their best to take appropriate resolutions aiming to alleviate the negative reflections of the financial crisis on the GCC countries and to find effective ways that could buttress the performance of their governments and maintain development and prosperity.
He expressed hope that the gathering would come up with outcomes and resolutions that could promote and reinforce the role of parliaments in serving the Gulf people.
For his part, Qatari Shura Council Speaker Mohammad Al-Khulaifi thanked the GCC leaders for backing the Gulf parliaments, for considering their meetings an integrated joint mechanism and for intending to consider prospective recommendations to be produced by the gathering.
He hailed the great role of the GCC legislative councils in the development of the Gulf cooperation and integration mechanism.
In his speech, GCC Secretary-General Abdurrahman Al-Attiya lauded efforts by the GCC legislative councils for shoring up the march of cooperation among the GCC member countries for the sake of fulfilling the aspired goals and ends.