Mumbai: Member countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are planning a joint revaluation of their dollar-pegged currencies and hold talks on a revision of the exchange rates "in the next few days", Bahrain''''s foreign minister said.

The GCC, that groups Bahrain, Kuwait, Quatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, is preparing for a monetary union as early as 2010, but ruled out dropping the dollar peg and planned to keep any talks on revaluation secret.

Central banks of the GCC states are currently reviewing currency linkages and there will be a meeting between the central bank governors and finance ministers soon, reports said.

Meanwhile, United Arab Emirates, which has been pushing for currency reform, said it would not change exchange rate policy for "the foreseeable future."

Bahraini foreign minister Sheikh Khaled bin Ahmed al-Khalifa said the six states were working together to shift exchange rates, although they would keep their dollar pegs.

The move started after Kuwait moved to track a currency basket, saying the dollar''''s slide was fuelling inflation by making imports more expensive, in May.  However, the Gulf states have agreed at their last summit to stick to a 2010 deadline for monetary union.

Qatari prime minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr al-Thani told a conference in Bahrain that the GCC is unlikely to meet a 2010 deadline for monetary union.

While five of the six GCC members have agreed to stick to the timetable for monetary union after a summit last week, Oman, one of six states that had agreed to the target date, said last year it had decided not to join by 2010.