Yemen and GCC: Full membership not foreseen [Archives:2004/704/Opinion]

By Ahmed Al Thamri
[email protected]
Yemen has applied to join the GCC and has been given a partial and a very limited membership to the dreamlands council.
If we try to find the reason behind the Yemeni government intention to enter the GCC, we will easily see that the Yemeni government is trying to improve Yemen economy by having softer procedures that allow Yemeni workers to work in the GCC countries.
However, The GCC countries do not want to have what they describe as unskilled laborers swamp their countries and they prefer to keep Yemenis along with their unsolvable problems behind the bars (boundaries). The gulf states think and believe that allowing Yemen to join the GCC will be a one direction relationship, where the gulf states has to allow Yemeni workers to their countries, having moral commitment to provide economical aid to Yemen and to tackle Yemen's' social and security problems.
The Yemeni government should not lean and depend in solving their unemployment and economical problems by trying to throw these issues to the GCC countries shoulder.
For an equal relationship, Yemen has to think first what it is going to offer to the GCC rather than what the GCC will give them and once Yemen has an important and valuable qualification it will be invited rather than begging the GCC membership.
Yemen government has to solve Yemen security, unemployment, illiteracy, law informant issues along with improving the living standard of its people its self with the assistance of the international community. None of GCC country will accept to left the responsibility of the Yemeni government on its behalf.
Blaming the GCC for not accepting Yemen is not going to solve the Yemenis problems. What we need is a government that has one goal, that is improving the terrible living situation of the Yemenis by using the available resources.
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