India and the GCC will form an action plan for a strategic partnership to forge ahead in several areas of cooperation. This was decided at the final meeting of the India-GCC Strategic Partnership Study Group held in Riyadh.According to Arab news, Indian Ambassador Talmiz Ahmad said that the meeting concluded with a set of decisions on security, defence, politics, employment of foreign labour, education, culture, economy and others areas of cooperation. He informed that the study was the outcome of years of research between the two groups adding that it will be documented in book form.GCC Secretary-General Abdul Rahman Al-Attiyah said at the inaugural session of the meeting held at the GCC headquarters in Riyadh yesterday that India has always stood for the cause of the Arabs, particularly the issue of Palestine. He added that meeting was held to explore new areas of cooperation in all areas as all countries in the GCC as well as India are willing to participate in projects of mutual interest.The Indian team was led by former deputy security adviser and secretary to the National Security Council of India Leela Ponappa. Undersecretary for economic and cultural affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Saudi Arabia Ambassador Khalid Al-Jandan and Indian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Talmiz Ahmad were present during the inaugural session.The volume of trade exchange between India and GCC countries exceeded 64 billion dollars in 2009. The GCC states import a variety of goods including agricultural commodities, while India imports oil and gas in return.