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Though the European Union was going through a profound political transformation at the turn of the millennium (with a new common currency, new members joining, and a constitution being drafted), a surprising consensus was obtained.
With rare exceptions, policymakers, journalists and think-tanks in Brussels preferred not to rock the boat.
On a press trip to Sweden in 2001, the Brussels media encountered a beast strange to them, Leif Pagrotsky, a cabinet minister - of a country that is a full EU member, after all - who seemed to be a Eurosceptic and who opposed the idea of Sweden adopting the single European currency.
"As the dinner conversation became increasingly heated, Pagrotsky had a sudden insight: 'I thought I was meeting journalists,' he said, 'but it turns out that you are missionaries.'"
Sceptics abound in the GCC too when the subject of monetary union is broached.
However, this week, GCC countries, barring Oman, are to decide on the location of a regional central bank and choose to speed up the ratification process for their monetary union deal.
With less than 15 months to go before the 2010 deadline to issue a common currency, the GCC plans to achieve some semblance of monetary union by that target.
Under the current plan, the monetary council would be established one month after all Gulf governments have ratified the monetary union agreement, says Naser Al Kaud, deputy assistant secretary-general at the GCC Secretariat-General.
Central bank governors and finance ministers will study a proposal on September 17 to get the council started after three states ratify the deal.
Central bank chiefs, set to meet for two days before their joint meeting with finance ministers, will also put the final touches on the monetary union deal and the council's charter.
Any decisions made at the meetings in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah would have to be approved by Gulf leaders at their annual summit in the Omani capital Muscat this November.
"The location of the monetary council will be decided at the joint meeting and they will recommend it to Gulf leaders," Kaud says, adding that there are 'no specific proposals' on the site.
The agreement will give more credibility to the project. By approving the monetary council charter, they are giving the authority to decide on the name, design and the issuance of the currency to the council.
A body similar to the European Monetary Institute that preceded the European Central Bank, the monetary council would determine the time schedule for rolling out notes and coins.
Its board, to consist of central bank governors, will meet at least six times a year, up from twice yearly now.
Among the council's responsibilities will be to determine the conversion rate of each national currency against the common currency - a step that could happen by 2010, Kaud says.
Gulf leaders had envisioned circulating common currency notes by January 1, 2010 - a deadline policymakers including the Saudi and UAE central bank governors say would be tough to meet.
"If we are not able to issue the physical currency we will have the accounting unit and the name. Then we can have a transitional period before we issue the currency," Kaud says. "I think that is the least we can do to meet that deadline."
The council's monetary policy-setting powers are likely to be limited, however. It would be up to the Gulf central bank to decide whether the single currency is pegged to the dollar, to a basket of currencies or freely floated.
The council members have to co-ordinate the exchange rates for the countries, so it gives them some power in that area.
"I don't think it is with them to change the currency policy but they can discuss it and if they agree on something they can recommend to the governments," he adds.
Meanwhile, the IMF says achieving GCC monetary union by 2010 would remain a major challenge despite some significant progress made in certain areas.
Mohsin Khan, IMF's director for the Middle East and Central Asia, says although some significant steps have been taken recently toward achieving a monetary union by 2010, including the launching of the common market and preparations to set up a monetary council, much remains to be done.
"For example, decisions on the location and power of the central bank and the choice of exchange rate regime of the future common currency and the need to harmonise regulatory and payment systems and collect and compile regional statistics. Achieving all these by 2010 will be a major challenge," he adds.
