The Sultanate of Oman hosted a regular meeting of the Supreme Military Committee of Chiefs of Staff of GCC Armed Forces.
The meeting was held at Al Bustan Palace Hotel in Muscat Sunday in pursuance of a programme of scheduled gatherings aimed at exploring means of consolidating joint cooperation among GCC states in military fields.
The meeting was preceded by another meeting of the “GCC Preparatory Committee of Assistant Chiefs of Staff for Operations”. The same programme also included a meeting of the “GCC Joint Defence Council” comprising defence ministers of member states.
The meeting was chaired by Vice Admiral Abdullah Khamis Al Raisi, Chief of Staff of the Sultan’s Armed Forces (SAF), Oman News Agency (ONA) reported.
Before the meeting, Dr. Mohammed Nassir Al Za’abi, Secretary General at Oman’s Ministry of Defence received the Chiefs of Staff of the military forces in the GCC countries.
The meeting discussed a set of military topics of common interest. It was attended by Lt. General Eid Awad Al Shalawi, Commander of the GCC Unified Military Command and Air Vice Marshal Issa Rashid Al Mohannadi, Assistant GCC Secretary General for Military Affairs.
In another development, the Sultanate of Oman, represented by the Ministry of Interior, also chaired last week the 40th meeting of the GCC Ministers of Interior held in Muscat.
Sayyid Hamoud Faisal Al Busaidi, Minister of Interior, stressed in a speech he delivered while chairing the meeting that the security challenges and the accompanying rapid changes in the forms of committing crime and exploiting technical progress require continuing to strengthen coordination and consultation to confront them, developing technical means, creating the necessary legislation, and harnessing the necessary capabilities to combat them and support related efforts.
The GCC Ministers of Interior discussed many important topics in the field of joint security cooperation and the development of electronic projects of interest to citizens and residents in the GCC countries.
The Ministers approved the unified Gulf tourist visa project to contribute to facilitating movement of residents and tourists between the six GCC countries. The step will undoubtedly have positive effects on the economic and tourism sectors.
The Ministers also approved the launch of the first phase of the project to link traffic violations electronically among the GCC countries. They also adopted a directive to develop a comprehensive Gulf strategy tailored to combat drugs, which have become a burden for the Gulf and global society at all levels.
The GCC Interior Ministers witnessed the honouring of the winners of Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz Award for Security Research for 2022/2023. The award addresses Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its applications in the security field in the GCC countries.
In the category of the legal award for institutions, colleges, national government and private institutes, police, and research centres, the Sultanate of Oman, represented by the Research and Studies Centre at the Sultan Qaboos Academy for Police Sciences, bagged the first place.
In the category of natural award for ordinary individuals, scholars and researchers who are GCC working or retired citizens, Dr. Abdulrahman Abdullah Al Tassan from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia came first. Dr. Jamal Saif Al Ali from the United Arab Emirates came second place, while Lieutenant Colonel Dr. Hilal Mohammed Al Alawi from the Sultanate of Oman came third.
