Mumbai: The six-member Gulf Cooperation Council has announced the establishment of a common market at the closing session of the GCC summit in Doha.

The common market would come into effect on 1 January 2008, said GCC secretary general Abdul Rahman al-Attiya while reading out the Doha Declaration at the close of the summit.
 
The launch of the common market is for the interests of the Gulf people and for boosting competitiveness of the Gulf economy, he said.

The common market is aimed at achieving fair play for the people in the six Gulf states in business, investment, employment, education and medical care, said al-Attiya.

The GCC, which comprises Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates (UAE),  has been striving for a European Union-style bloc.

The GCC launched a customs union in 2003 and plans to adopt a single currency in 2010. The GCC will maintain a commitment to achieve monetary union by 2010, al-Attiya said.

Founded in 1981, the Riyad, Saudi capital-based GCC is a regional political and economic alliance aimed at enhancing cooperation among its six member states.

Markets, however, doubt the Gulf states can create a single currency by 2010, as they seek to follow divergent strategies to try to cope with rising inflation and dollar weakness.