The UAE, which has expressed reservations over a decision to base the Gulf central bank in Saudi Arabia, was still supporting monetary union plans, a top official has said.

GCC Secretary-General Abdulrahman Al Attiyah said the secretariat was urging Gulf states to meet a year-end deadline to ratify key monetary union agreements.

Bahrain had already done so, he said.

'They are supportive,' Al Attiyah said when asked about the UAE's reservations over the decision to base the joint central bank in Riyadh.

The UAE said after the May 5 decision it had reservations, leaving analysts to assume it would seek to use diplomatic clout to get other concessions in the future.

'I'm confident that the UAE and all the GCC ... in the integration programme have been always supportive,' Al Attiyah said on the sidelines of a UN conference in Bahrain.-TradeArabia News Service