KUWAIT CITY, Oct. 11 (Xinhua) -- Kuwait on Sunday reiterated its support for the creation of a unified currency among members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), as target dateline for that ambition is drawing near but limited progress has been achieved so far.

    The country's Finance Ministry said in a release the economic links among GCC members would be further cemented after the initiated single currency is introduced.

    Bearing much resemblance in their economy, GCC members including Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in 2001 decided to spend ten years on establishing a euro-style common currency.

    But in 2006, Oman shocked the bloc in decision to opt out the initiative, saying it was not ready to meet the preconditions. While the UAE followed suit in May this year to protest against locating the joint central bank in Saudi Arabia.

    The withdrawal of the two, especially the UAE, the Arab world's largest economy after Saudi Arabia, cast a shadow over the landmark plan and doubts have since arose on whether the bloc can meet the goal as scheduled.

    Financial and economic undersecretaries of the GCC states are to meet in the Saudi capital of Riyadh Monday to discuss issues including the custom union, the monetary union, the establishment of a development bank and negotiations with other economic blocs, the official KUNA news agency said.

    Scattering on the largest oil-exporting region in the world, GCC members together hold around 40 percent of the world's oil reserves and pump around 16 million barrels of crude oil per day.