Political infighting has dogged attempts by Gulf Cooperation Council states to integrate their economies. Most recently the factious nature of GCC relations has been agitated by the planned monetary union. With the United Arab Emirates decision in May to pull out, only four GCC members were left to sign the pact on a common currency — pegged to the dollar or a basket of currencies — when they met in Riyadh on June 7. The four members who signed-on were Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar; notably absent from the signing ceremony was the second largest economy in the GCC — the UAE. Analysts say the UAE declined to participate due to the May 5 decision by the four other states to locate the headquarters for the prospective monetary union’s Gulf Central Bank in Riyadh. As the second largest economy in the Gulf region, the UAE’s move has created significant
