QATAR:States belonging to the six-member Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) are expected to discuss progress in creating a joint nuclear energy programme during the Arab summit scheduled to meet in Riyadh at the end of this month, writes Michael Jansenin Doha, Qatar.
While these discussions are likely to take place behind closed doors or on the sidelines of the conference, the development of nuclear energy for power has become a high priority in the Middle East.
According to Nasser K al-Jaideh, chief executive of Qatar Petroleum International, the GCC is very serious about pursuing nuclear energy.
A scientist who spoke on condition of anonymity said that Gulf researchers looking into alternatives to fossil fuels were examining the feasibility of developing nuclear energy, as well as other possibilities. "Everybody is reconsidering" their positions, he said. Until recently the Arabs showed little interest in nuclear energy.
Egypt, which abandoned its nuclear programme several years ago, and Algeria have said they could follow the GCC's example.
Arab interest is giving rise to speculation that Arab states wish to establish nuclear programmes with the aim of training scientists and establishing civilian facilities. Such facilities could be used for bomb making if an arms race were to develop due to Iran's programme, the goal of which, the US claims, is producing nuclear weapons.
Iran's emergence as a nuclear- capable state amounts to a challenge to Israel, which is estimated to have an arsenal of 200 to 300 bombs and warheads. For the past two decades, Arab states have been insisting that Israel should dismantle its weapons and have been calling for a nuclear weapon-free Middle East.
The GCC, a loose political and economic group comprising Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Bahrain, agreed at a summit last December to look into the development of nuclear energy.
GCC secretary general Abdel-Rahman al-Attiyeh visited the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in February. Mr Attiyeh proposed co-operation in the nuclear field and exchanges between Arab and IAEA scientists, and said any GCC programme would be under the agency's auspices and supervision.