KUWAIT CITY - Interior ministers of the Gulf Arab states signed here Tuesday a counter-terrorism pact calling for concerted efforts to confront terror.
Abdulrahman Attiya, secretary general of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council, described the accord as the "most important" since the GCC was formed in 1981.
A statement issued at the end of the day-long meeting declared the GCC states' total solidarity with Saudi Arabia, which is facing a wave of terror attacks by suspected Islamist militants.
The statement vowed that the "safety of GCC members is inseparable and any harm on one state hurts other members." It added that the pact "aims at activating GCC strategy to combat extremism that leads to terrorism."
Attiya told reporters the pact will be effective 30 days after endorsement from authorities in the six-nation alliance.
Earlier, he had said "terrorism has started to grow and its dangers to increase day after day, amid an absence of clear and frank visions to define its causes and nature" in the world.
A state of lawlessness in Iraq is adversely affecting the security of the GCC states, which requires taking security measures and boosting the monitoring of borders to prevent infiltrators, Attiya said as the ministers met.
The signing of the pact "reflects the determination to combat terror in all forms and shapes ... to safeguard GCC security and stability," Attiya said.
Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz warned that the region could plunge into "complete chaos," as a result of "political, practical and media campaigns" since the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.
"Fast-paced events since September 11, 2001 and the consequent political, practical and media campaigns have created new security equations in the region that could lead to complete chaos and an endless struggle," he said.
"Those campaigns had exceeded their limits and were being used as a means ... for accusations and plots, making the region face a different type of terror," Prince Nayef said without elaborating.
The Gulf states have made effective contributions in the global effort to combat terror "but regrettably, such efforts have gone unnoticed ... although our countries suffered the most from these attacks," the Saudi minister said.
Kuwaiti Interior Minister Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad al-Sabah said the region is facing "fierce terror attacks ... which requires us to take decisive collective measures."
The pact calls for boosting cooperation and coordination among security agencies and facilitating the exchange of intelligence information.
Its signing comes on the heels of a series of serious attacks that rocked Saudi Arabia, the largest Gulf Arab nation, killing more than 60 people and wounding hundreds.
The GCC groups Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Dubai to speed up free zone dispute regulation