His Excellency Minister of Interior Lt-General Shaikh Rashid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa took part in the 13th consultative meeting of GCC Interior Ministers held in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday. The meeting was chaired by His Royal Highness Prince Naif bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Saudi Crown Prince and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior.

During the meeting, Their Excellencies Ministers of Interior reviewed the security coordination and cooperation among GCC countries in relation to the latest security incidents internationally and regionally and expressed their satisfaction with the developments in this regard.

After the meeting, GCC Secretary-General Dr Abdullateef Rashid Al Zayani announced that Their Excellencies Ministers of Interior had approved the amended GCC Security Agreement and decided to refer it to Their Majesties and Highnesses GCC leaders.

The Ministers also discussed the GCC Police Force and directed that the project be studied further in relation to its legal and technical aspects.

The Secretary-General told the Press that GCC Interior Ministers valued the GCC leaders’ support to the call of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud to move from the phase of cooperation to the stage of confederation to protect the Gulf countries and their achievements.

He said that the Ministers of Interior affirmed the importance of further coordination and integration among GCC security agencies and the unification of visions, policies and procedures related to dealing with various security threats as well as giving more attention to police media to deal with tendentious media campaigns that sought to promote disunity through broadcasting fabricated and sectarian news in order to destabilise regional security and stability.

The Secretary-General also said that the Ministers rejected foreign interference in the internal affairs of the Gulf countries since such acts were against the principles of good neighbourliness and mutual respect. They said that any internal threat to a Gulf country affected the stability of all GCC states. He highlighted that the Ministers studied the overview of the kingdom of Bahrain related to violence, terrorism and security threats as well as medial campaigns aiming to interfere in the GCC affairs and the exploitation of tourist visas facilities by some human rights and media organisations to carry out activities that could compromise the security situation.