Periodic Arab summit work proceeds tomorrow
Regional, Politics, 6/5/2000

Work of the first meeting of the foreign ministers of the "fivefold" committee for implementing and legalizing mechanisms for the periodic convening of Arab summits are to begin tomorrow at the Arab League's headquarters aiming at raising the results to the Arab heads of states for ratification.

The committee comprises the foreign ministers of Egypt, Yemen, Oman Sultanate, Syria, Tunis and Arab league secretary general. The committee is to discuss reports represented by Oman, Yemen, Syria, Egypt and the league secretary general.

Arab League Secretary General Esmat Abd al-Maguid says -- in his paper which ArabicNews.com obtained exclusively - that all the countries agreed on most items of the draft resolution items for legalizing the summit with an exception of three items. The issues are whether (1) the chairmanship would be for the hosting country or according to alphabetical order, (2) voting in the League's council on the level of the summit as well as (3) the official procedures for the session of the league's council on the summit level.

Abd al-Maguid replied regarding the question of whether ratifying an attached draft to a summit becomes an amendment to the Arab League charter, by saying that "adding an attachment concerning this mechanism to the charter will not harm its items, yet it is an addition to it that will have the same legal power of the charter."

The Omani paper which ArabicNews.com obtained assures that the political disputes among the Arab states affected their ability to move effectively and internationally and on the economic integration front citing that trade among the Arab states is still at its lowest level. It added that the lack of conformity to the general Arab interest effects multiple issues with neighboring countries of the Arab region on causes of water, borders and armament as well as direct interference in the internal affairs of the Arab states.

The Omani paper is raising a question about why there is such an absence of Arab will and why is there are so many disagreements when the Arab states have all the components for integration that others lack.

Oman assures that the Arab work urgently needs a mechanism that supports the Arab League's role in these efforts and would be represented in the necessity that leaders of the Arab states would systematically and periodically meet, clarifying that a periodic Arab summit means giving credibility to the common Arab work, providing a continuity in the decision making process , deepening confidence among the Arab states, accelerating economic integration, and the freeing of funds by having a single economic bloc to confront security challenges.

Previous Stories:
  Meetings of the foreign ministers of the five fold committee for legalizing a periodic Arab summit   (6/1/2000)
  Arab states summits to become regularl scheduled events   (5/29/2000)
  Qatari message to Arab League chief   (5/15/2000)

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