Secretary-General Abdulrahman Al-Attiya said in October that the GCC, which groups Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates cleared obstacles for the launch of a customs union on January 1st 2003. They agreed to a mechanism for the payment of customs revenues, a computer linkup between points of entry and exit of GCC states and on the duties of joint customs centers.

On December 15th, GCC finance ministers met in Doha, Qatar to finalize the procedures, but agreed to delay the application of some measures for between one and three years. The member states will continue to charge customs duty on goods bought from each other for a limited period, but this would not hinder the launch of the union. The distribution of customs revenue on the basis of the final destination of imports has been agreed. After three years of implementation, the agreement would be reevaluated for possible changes. The customs union is seen as an essential step on the way to forming a Gulf common market. The GCC states also approved a timetable for monetary union planned for 2005 and a single currency in 2010.