قادة مجلس التعاون يعلنون انطلاق السوق الخليجية المشتركة

This is a great step; I just really hope it's more than just superficial rhetoric. I mean there's no point in having "one market" if every region continues to require different rules and cross-border commerce is hindered by so much bureaucracy. Last Sunday, there was a long line of trucks, hundreds of trucks long, on the Bahraini side of the causeway (The Saudi – Bahrain causeway) extending all the way to the royal palaces. Apparently, Saudi Arabia only allowed 80 trucks (EIGHTY) to go through that day. According to a Bahraini customs officer that I talked to, this is very common and those truckers might end up spending anywhere from 24-48 hours on the causeway waiting to be allowed entry into Saudi Arabia. A real "one market" means no borders, whatsoever. Now that wouldn't work because each country has its own rules of what's allowed and what's not. Saudi is afraid of alcohol smugglers from Bahrain. Bahrain is afraid of weapons smugglers from Saudi. Therefore, every single box must be inspected by each country's customs officers and this slows down commerce much, much more that having "many" markets instead of "one"