This research is based on an economic analysis of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), formedin 1981by six Arab Gulf states:SaudiArabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and the UAE. The researchhas aimed to addressand then find answersto the following two interrelatedquestions. First, whether there has been any significant improvement in the performanceof these economies since the formation of the GCC. Second, using econometric estimation and forecasting techniques,the research examineswhether the overall evidenceare indicative of any positive moves towards full economic integration. Basedon the main characteristicsof theseeconomies,the research has built a simple but applicablemodel of the customsunion for the GCC. The findings derived from the estimated econometric models and our forecasts are generally statistically meaningful and stable. As the fmdings suggest diversification, industrialisation and general economic innovations have been rather limited in the GCC over the past two decades. Successfuleconomic integration rests primarily upon the idea of trade complementarity and evidence of scale economies,both of which shown to have been limited and growing slowly. In short, it can be concludedthat due to a whole host of problematic issues,it is rather unlikely to assumedramaticchangesto take place over the next few years. It is concludedthat the best the GCC can come up with is to set up its common external tariff in line with the WTO recommendationas effectively aspossible

This research is based on an economic analysis of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), formedin 1981by six Arab Gulf states:SaudiArabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and the UAE. The researchhas aimed to addressand then find answersto the following two interrelatedquestions. First, whether there ...