There is no more closer, sincere and stronger ally ever to the Arab and Islamic nations than the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Prince Khalifa Bin Salman Al Khalifa, Prime Minister of Bahrain, said here on Sunday. This came during an audience Sheikh Khalifa held with the chairman and members of the Arab Gulf Journalists' Union, led by Khaled Al-Maalik, new chairman of the union, who is also editor-in-chief the Saudi newspaper of Al-Jazirah and Chairman of the Saudi Journalists' association, and Nasser bin Mohammed Al-Othman, Secretary General of the union. [caption id="attachment_112746" align="alignright" width="300"] Khaled Bin Hamad Al-Maalik [/caption] Communique – GCC Journalists' Union The General Assembly of GCC Journalists' Union took several decisions and made a number of recommendations to increase the financial resources of the Union. The conference began with a speech by Nasser Muhammad Al-Othman, secretary general of the Union, who thanked Bahraini Minister of Information Ali Bin Ali for patronizing the conference and supporting the Union. Al-Othman confirmed that Turki Bin Abdullah Al-Sudairi, chairman of the union, did not wish to continue in his post. Al-Othman also expressed his own wish not to continue as secretary general. He called for electing a new chairman and secretary general for the Union as well as members of the secretariat general for the new session. They unanimously elected Khaled Hamad Al-Maalik, editor-in-chief of Al-Jazirah newspaper, as chairman of the union and Isa Hassan Al-Shaiji, editor-in-chief of the Bahraini Al-Ayyam newspaper, as secretary general of the union. Apart from these, two members from each country were elected for the secretariat general of the union. Hence, the secretariat general includes Isa Al-Shaiji and Yusuf Al-Binkhaleel from Bahrain; Muhammad Al-Wu'ail and Dr. Fahd Al Aqran from Saudi Arabia; Dr. Imad Bukhamseen and Adnan Al-Rashid from Kuwait; Muhammad Al-Marri and Sadiq Al-Ammari from Qatar; Ahmed Al-Zidjali and Awad Baqwair from Oman; and Muhammad Al-Hammadi and Muna Busamrah from the UAE. Aside from these, the membership of Faisal Makram and Ali Al-Ra'awi from Yemen were renewed. Due to the keenness of the members to benefit from the experience of Nasser Muhammad Al-Othman, who occupied the post of secretary general for three consecutive sessions, a new post, that of adviser of the union, has been created. Al-Othman has been named as the adviser. The General Assembly approved the amendments made by the committee assigned to rewrite the Basic System. The General Assembly studied the fast developments in the region and the member countries facing many risks and challenges.
