The Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf, originally (and still colloquially) known as the Gulf Cooperation Council, is a regional intergovernmental political and economic union consisting of all Arab states of the Persian Gulf, except for Iraq. The Charter of the Gulf Cooperation Council was signed on 25 May 1981, formally establishing the institution. There have been discussions r
egarding the future membership of Jordan, Morocco, and Yemen. A 2011 proposal to transform the GCC into a "Gulf Union" with tighter economic, political and military coordination has been advanced by Saudi Arabia. In order to reduce their dependence on oil in the future, the Gulf states are also seeking to reform their economic, political and social structures. The original union comprised the 1,032,093-square-mile (2,673,110 km2) Persian Gulf states of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The unified economic agreement between the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council was signed on 11 November 1981 in Abu Dhabi. These countries are often referred to as "the GCC states".
