Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)

1.1 Who are the six members?

The GCC is the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf. Its charter is the founding document that sets out its rules. Article 5 says the council consists of the six countries that took part in the Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Riyadh on 4 February 1981.

The six members are:

• Saudi Arabia
• Kuwait
• The United Arab Emirates (UAE)
• Qatar
• Bahrain
• Oman

Iran is not a member. Iraq is not a member either. The charter lists only the six signatories above.

Britannica adds that Jordan and Morocco were invited to join in 2011. Morocco declined. Jordan’s application stayed delayed because of internal GCC disagreements. The charter page on the GCC site, last updated on 17 March 2025, still names only the six.

A common slip is to think Iran must belong because the bloc is about the Gulf. The charter’s list of signatories has no Iran.

1.2 Where was it signed, and where is the headquarters?

The charter ends with its signing line. It says the charter was signed in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on 25 May 1981. The GCC’s own 2009 book also places the first summit of 1981 in Abu Dhabi.

Article 2 says the headquarters of the GCC is in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Some sources give Riyadh for the founding. An older note of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) says the agreement was concluded in Riyadh. Britannica says the GCC was established in Riyadh in May 1981. This page follows the charter text, which says Abu Dhabi.

1.3 What does the charter aim to do?

Article 4 sets the objectives. The first is coordination, integration and interconnection among the member states in all fields, leading to their unity. Another is to adopt unified regulations in these areas:

• Economic and financial affairs
• Trade, customs and transportation
• Educational and cultural affairs
• Social and health affairs
• Media and tourism
• Legislative and administrative affairs

The preamble says the states are bound by special bonds, common characteristics and similar systems. It says all of these are rooted in Islamic faith.

2.1 What was happening around the Gulf?

Two events set the scene. Britannica dates the Iranian Revolution from January 1978 to 1 April 1979. Britannica also says open warfare in the Iran-Iraq War began on 22 September 1980.

Arab News said in 2012 that the GCC was formed in May 1981 “against the backdrop of the revolution in Iran and the Iraq-Iran war”.

The GCC’s own 2009 book adds more detail.

It says the war was in its first year when the council was set up. It says the war worried the Supreme Council from the first summit. It says the main aims in the 1980s were stability and security against the threats the war mainly posed.

Some notes call the GCC a “counterweight to Iran”. The sources we checked do not use that word. They speak of a backdrop of events. Use that wording in an answer.

2.2 What is the Peninsula Shield Force?

The Peninsula Shield Force is the GCC’s joint military force. Britannica says the GCC’s security policies included creating it in 1984, as a joint military venture based in Saudi Arabia.

Arab News said in 2021 that the GCC established it in 1984 to deter and respond to aggression against member states.

Its first significant deployment was in Bahrain in 2011, says Britannica. Arab News of 2012 dates the deployment to March 2011.

The year needs care. The GCC’s 2009 book says the decision to form the Al-Jazeerah Shield Force was issued on 10 October 1982. Arab News said in 2012 that the force was set up in 1984.

Our own reading: 1982 was the decision and 1984 was the setting up. Answer 1984 if an exam asks when it was created.

3.1 What are the three main organs?

Article 6 names the main organs. They are the Supreme Council, the Ministerial Council and the Secretariat General. The Supreme Council also oversees the Dispute Settlement Commission.

3.2 What does the Supreme Council do?

Article 7 calls it the highest authority of the GCC. It is made up of the heads of the member states. Its presidency rotates alphabetically. It meets in regular session once a year.

Article 8 gives it these tasks:

• Setting the general policy and basic guidelines of the GCC.
• Appointing the Secretary-General.
• Ratifying the budget of the Secretariat General.

Article 9 gives each member one vote. Decisions on substantive matters need the unanimous approval of the participating members. Decisions on procedural matters are made by majority vote.

An older MEA note says resolutions are carried by majority vote. The charter text is more exact, so follow it. Majority is enough only for procedure.

3.3 What does the Ministerial Council do?

Article 11 says it consists of the foreign ministers of the member states, or their representatives. It meets every three months.

Article 12 lists its work. It proposes policies and makes recommendations. It prepares the Supreme Council’s meetings and sets their agenda.

3.4 Who runs the Secretariat, and who pays for it?

Article 14 says the Supreme Council appoints the Secretary-General. This person must be a national of a member state. The term is three years, renewable once.

Article 15 gives the Secretariat its work: reports, follow-up of decisions, and budgets and accounts. Article 18 says member states contribute equally to the budget. Article 10 says the Supreme Council forms a Dispute Settlement Commission case by case, depending on the nature of the dispute.

4.1 Where did economic unity begin?

The GCC’s 2009 book says a Free Trade Area ran for almost twenty years, until the end of 2002.

A free trade area is a group of countries that cut tariffs among themselves. The book says trade among the six rose from less than USD 6 billion in 1983 to some USD 20 billion in 2002.

4.2 What are the steps, in order?

A common external tariff means every member charges the same duty on imports from outside the group.

The customs union needs a clear picture. The Parliament of Australia says it was formally implemented on 1 January 2003, under a Supreme Council decision of December 2001.

The Peninsula, a Qatar newspaper, reported on 3 January 2015 that it became fully operational from 1 January. It said full implementation took 12 years.

Britannica says a customs union was implemented in 2015. The sources fit together. The launch was in 2003, and full operation came in 2015.

4.3 Is there a single currency?

Britannica says an agreement to launch a single currency, like the euro, by 2010 saw little movement beyond a monetary council in 2009. We found no source that reports a launch.

An older MEA note says Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain ratified the monetary union. It says Oman opted out in 2006 and the UAE in May 2009.

A common slip is to mix up the steps. A customs union is about duties on goods. A common market is about citizens’ rights. A monetary union is about the currency.

5.1 What was the 2017 blockade of Qatar?

Britannica says Egypt and fellow GCC members Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain instated a blockade against Qatar in 2017. Egypt is not a GCC member. The other three are.

So the GCC faced a rift among its own members. A blockade is an attempt to cut a country off from trade and travel.

5.2 How did it end?

Britannica says the blockade was lifted at the next annual summit, held in January 2021, with Qatar’s emir in attendance. The Associated Press reported on 5 January 2021 that the emir arrived in Al-Ula, Saudi Arabia, for the annual summit of Gulf Arab leaders.

6.1 How big is India-GCC trade?

The MEA says India-GCC bilateral trade in FY 2024-25 reached USD 178.56 billion. Exports were USD 56.87 billion and imports USD 121.68 billion. That was 15.42% of India’s global trade. The Press Information Bureau (PIB) calls the GCC India’s largest trading partner bloc.

A bloc is a group of countries acting together. “Largest trading partner bloc” means the group as a whole. It does not mean one country.

The MEA says the UAE is India’s largest GCC trade partner and Saudi Arabia is second. MEA, quoted by the Economic Times on 26 September 2026, put trade in FY 2025-26 at USD 178.66 billion.

6.2 Who else is tied to the Gulf?

The MEA says close to 10 million Indians live in GCC countries. It says their remittances were almost 38% of all remittances India received in FY 2024-25. A remittance is money sent home by a person working abroad.

The MEA also calls the GCC India’s “extended” neighbourhood. It says the region’s oil and gas reserves matter greatly for India’s energy security.

PIB gives more figures:

• The GCC market had 61.5 million people in 2024.
• Its GDP at current prices was USD 2.3 trillion, ranking 9th globally.
• It is a significant source of FDI for India, with cumulative investments above USD 31.14 billion as on September 2025.

FDI means foreign direct investment, which is money put into businesses in another country.

6.3 How did formal dialogue grow?

The MEA says the first India-GCC Political Dialogue was held on 26 September 2003, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. The first India-GCC Joint Ministerial Meeting for Strategic Dialogue followed on 9 September 2024 in Riyadh.

The MEA says it was the first meeting between India and the GCC at foreign minister level. The foreign ministers of all GCC countries attended. It adopted a Joint Action Plan for 2024-2028.

7.1 How did the talks begin?

PIB says the Terms of Reference for the FTA were signed on 5 February 2026. The GCC Secretariat says the Joint Statement was signed on Tuesday, 24 February 2026, in New Delhi.

PIB names Piyush Goyal and Jasem Albudaiwi as the signatories. It says the statement formally launched the negotiations.

The GCC Secretariat says the Terms of Reference cover these areas:

• Trade in goods
• Customs procedures
• Trade in services
• Digital trade
• Sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures, which cover food safety and plant and animal health
• Intellectual property rights, and cooperation on micro, small and medium enterprises

It said it was ready to host the first round at its Riyadh headquarters in the second half of 2026.

7.2 Why did the talks slow down?

These are dated snapshots, each from a named source:

• 17 March 2026: Moneycontrol quoted an official who said talks would come only in the second half of 2026. One reason given was the West Asia crisis.
• 30 June 2026: The Economic Times reported Piyush Goyal saying talks with the GCC bloc were “temporarily stalled”.
• 25 September 2026: Business Today reported Goyal saying the first round with the GCC was scheduled for October.

The three reports do not clash. They were made on different dates by different speakers.

7.3 What happened in New York on 25 September 2026?

The GCC Secretariat says the 2nd GCC-India Joint Ministerial Meeting took place on Friday, 25 September 2026. It was held on the sidelines of the 81st UN General Assembly. The Economic Times, quoting ANI, calls it a Troika Ministerial Meeting. It says the meeting reviewed the Joint Action Plan.

ANI reported that the leaders welcomed the launch of FTA negotiations. It also reported that Jaishankar thanked the GCC countries for the energy and fertiliser they supplied. He said this came despite trade-route disruption during the recent conflict in West Asia.

The GCC Secretary-General spoke of Iranian attacks on GCC member states since 28 February 2026. He noted the disruption of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz. These are his words, as reported by the GCC.

8.1 Who is the Secretary-General?

The GCC site names Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi, of Kuwait, as Secretary-General. Its page gives the date of assuming the position as 2/1/2023. We read this as 1 February 2023. That matches the three-year term that the renewal below counts from 1 February 2026.

8.2 Was his term renewed?

Yes. The 45th session of the Supreme Council met in Kuwait on 1 December 2024. It decided to renew his appointment for another three years, starting 1 February 2026.

Article 14 says the term is three years, renewable once. Our own reading: this decision is that one renewal.

A common slip is to mix the Secretary-General with the Supreme Council’s presidency. The presidency rotates alphabetically among member states. The Secretary-General is appointed.

9.1 What did CDS (I) 2021 ask?

The answer is the Gulf Cooperation Council. UPSC’s official key for this paper (Series A) gives option (c) for Q87. Britannica and Arab News also describe the force as a GCC venture.

9.2 What did UPSC Civil Services ask in 2016?

The answer is Iran. UPSC’s official key for this paper (Series A) gives option (a) for Q70. The charter lists Saudi Arabia, Oman and Kuwait among the six signatories.

9.3 Which traps repeat in this topic?

• Membership. Iran and Iraq are not in the charter’s list of six.
• Place. The charter was signed in Abu Dhabi. The headquarters is in Riyadh.
• Bodies. The Supreme Council is the highest authority. The Ministerial Council meets every three months.
• Peninsula Shield. The decision was dated 1982 by the GCC. The force was created in 1984, say Britannica and Arab News.
• Economic steps. The customs union was launched in January 2003 and fully operational in 2015. The common market began in January 2008. There is no single currency.
• India. The GCC is India’s largest trading partner bloc, not a single country.
• Secretary-General. Appointed for three years, renewable once. Not the same as the rotating presidency.