LONDON: Jassem Albudaiwi, the secretary-general of the Gulf Cooperation Council, said that the GCC’s Committee of Central Bank Governors has a significant and prominent role to play in achieving economic integration and interconnection between member states, especially in terms of the contributions of the financial and banking fields. His comments came during the 81st meeting of the committee, which took place on Tuesday in the city of Salalah in Oman. It was led by Sayyid Taimur bin Asa’a, chairperson of the board of governors of the Central Bank of Oman and of the current session of the committee. Albudaiwi expressed his sincere thanks and appreciation to Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tariq, chairperson of the current session of the GCC Supreme Council, for his tireless efforts to strengthen the GCC and its activities, and for his interest and support, and that of the Omani government, for joint Gulf action. During his speech, he also highlighted topics that have been discussed and decisions made by the leaders of the GCC during recent meetings, the most recent of which was their 18th consultative meeting, in Jeddah in July, which focused on economic issues and efforts to establish the GCC Customs Union and Common Market, with the aim of achieving economic unity by 2025 through greater coordination, integration and interconnection. Albudaiwi said that the agenda for the governors’ committee meeting included recommendations on payment systems in GCC countries by teams working under the supervision of the committee. Other topics included the supervision, control and regulation of banking systems in GCC countries, financial technologies and integration initiatives, the exchange of cybersecurity information in the banking sector, efforts made by the GCC countries to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism, and the latest monetary and financial developments in GCC countries.