DOHA, December 21 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The annual summit of the six Gulf Arab monarchies opened Saturday, December 21, to the sound of war drums over Iraq, while Kuwait called on fellow monarchies to adopt a common stance on a speech by the Iraqi President in which he apologized for the August 1990 invasion of the country.

"Kuwait presented a memorandum calling for a unified position regarding the speech by the Iraqi President," a member of the Kuwaiti delegation told Agence France-Presse (AFP) on the opening day of the two-day annual summit of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

"The memorandum spells out Kuwait's position over this speech, which contains violations of Arab League and UN Security Council resolutions, an encouragement of terrorism and an interference in the internal affairs of Kuwait," the official said.

Saddam issued a televised apology to the Kuwaiti people on December 7 for the invasion but coupled it with a strong attack on the Kuwaiti leadership, accusing it of colluding with the United States against Baghdad.

For his part, the emir of host country Qatar called for a rapid completion of UN arms inspections.

Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani urged inspectors to "carry out their mission with complete objectivity and neutrality" and the "international community to do everything so that this mission is completed as quickly as possible."

He also welcomed the fact that Iraq had agreed to cooperate with UN Security Council Resolution 1441, which toughened the inspections regime, saying that it "represents an important step toward solving the problem, within the framework of the United Nations".

"We feel that the Iraqi problem should be resolved by peaceful means and within the framework of the pertinent UN Security Council resolutions," added Sheikh Hamad, whose country hosts some 4,000 U.S. soldiers and is tipped as a likely major launch pad for any U.S. military action against Iraq.

Qatar is taking over from Oman the rotating chairmanship of the GCC, which also groups Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.

While not specifically mentioning the threats against Baghdad, Sheikh Hamad insisted on the "need to respect the independence of Iraq, its security, its territorial integrity and not to interfere in its domestic affairs."

For its part, Baghdad should "respect its commitments" over Resolution 1441 in order to "open the way to a lifting of the sanctions and put an end to the suffering of its people."

Sheikh Hamad was referring to sanctions slapped on Iraq following its August 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

Meanwhile, Kuwait denied that it would formally ask the GCC to take a united stand on the presence of foreign troops in the region, according to the official KUNA news agency.

Al-Qabas newspaper had quoted political sources as saying the emirate would present a "political paper" to the two-day summit.

"There is no such paper, though some ideas will be put to discussion at the summit," First Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah told reporters.

Such a paper is "very unlikely ... as there is no GCC state without a foreign presence," KUNA quoted Sheikh Sabah as saying.

Kuwait also proposes to "crystallize" a GCC stand on regional developments, both economic and political, that could result from Iraq's possible return to the oil market, said Al-Qabas.

The Kuwaiti daily said the summit was expected to ratify a number of economic issues despite the absence of four leaders. With the exception of Qatar and of Oman, the remaining countries are only represented by lower-level officials.

Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, whose country is the key power in the GCC, is boycotting the summit and has sent Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal in his place.

Commenting on that, Sheikh Hamad said "our common work ... should be protected from any divergence in bilateral views."

The summit is due to examine the introduction on January 1 of a long-awaited customs union, but a senior GCC official said in remarks published Thursday, December 19, the bloc decided to put off implementation of parts of the pact.

The summit was also expected to focus on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Deploring what he said was the "deterioration and weakness in the Arab world," the emir lamented its "powerlessness ... in the face of the tragic situation in Palestine, where the Israeli occupation forces continue their aggressive action toward the Palestinian people and its leadership.

"This Israeli escalation demonstrates that Israel has chosen the way of force instead of negotiations."