HRH the Crown Prince early this morning praised the GCC for launching a $10 billion development programme for Bahrain as the kingdom works towards the establishment of its national dialogue initiative.

The GCC earlier launched the job-generating measure, which will give $10bn each to Bahrain and Oman to upgrade their housing and infrastructure over 10 years.

The allocation of the grant will run alongside the national budget, doubling capital expenditure and will be placed under the oversight of parliament and the donor countries, His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander, said.

Key spending priorities will be on programmes that benefit Bahraini society and on projects that help fill opportunity gaps where they exist, HRH the Crown Prince said. “Allocation and deployment will be subject to the highest levels of transparency,” he said.

“We believe this is an ambitious programme and it also shows strong support from the GCC,” UAE Foreign Minister Shaikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan said after a meeting of GCC foreign ministers in Riyadh.

“Dear Bahraini ... messages of unity, brotherhood and social harmony are our most powerful weapons to fight sectarian strife,” Foreign Minister Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa said on Twitter as he announced the aid package.

The GCC states also vowed to deal “decisively” with threats to any member’s security.

“The GCC believes that any threat to the security of any member state harms the security of all states and will be dealt with decisively and immediately, without hesitation,” the statement said.

“The GCC states and peoples totally reject any attempts for foreign interference in its affairs and declare they will firmly curb those trying to foment sectarian rift,” it added-TradeArabia News Service