The Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council, Jassem Mohamed Albudaiwi, stressed on Thursday the importance of the strategic partnership between the GCC and the United States in enhancing maritime security in the region and securing freedom of maritime navigation and the flow of international trade.
This statement came during his meeting with Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, Commander of US Naval Forces Central Command (NAVCENT), US 5th Fleet and Combined Maritime Forces at the headquarters of the GCC General Secretariat in Riyadh.
During the meeting, they discussed several issues related to maritime security in the Arab Gulf region, strengthening the GCC-US cooperation and working with international and regional partners.
The GCC Secretary-General stressed the importance of this joint work to maintain the security of waterways and maritime navigation in a way that guarantees freedom of navigation and the free flow of trade to the countries of this region and the world.
In addition, Albudaiwi emphasized that the matter of maritime security is a top priority within the framework of the strategic partnership with the US. This is evidenced by the formation of a specialized working group in 2015, whose members convene regularly to agree on necessary steps to enhance cooperation between the two sides in the field of maritime security, he said.
The importance of this partnership has been underscored by the successive GCC-US summits, including the summit held in July 2022 in Jeddah, and the joint ministerial meeting between the Foreign Ministers of the GCC countries and the US in June 2023, which stressed the importance of supporting navigational rights and freedoms as well as collective efforts to address threats to the security of ships using the waterways in the region, the GCC Secretary-General highlighted.
