Al-Shara, Moussa, and al-Faisal in al-Riyadh discuss three-way summit
Regional, Politics, 10/14/2000

The quick and undeclared meeting held by the foreign ministers of Syria Farouk al-Shara, Egypt's Amr Moussa and Saudi Arabia Saud al-Faisal in Riyadh on Friday raised the possibility of convening a mini- Arab summit including Syria, Egypt and Saudi Arabia before the plenary summit which will be held on October 21.

However, no official statement was made to confirm the tripartite summit or whether the Arab leaders have decided to hold the plenary summit earlier.

Al-Shara and Mousa arrived at the air base in al-Riyadh where they were received by al-Faisal who accompanied them immediately to his house where a round of talks was held. An Arab diplomatic source said that the talks dealt with the situation in the Palestinian territories.

However, the meeting of the three ministers came amid intensive contacts declared on Thursday in al-Riyadh concerning the convening of a tripartite summit in al-Riyadh.

According to a Saudi diplomatic source "contacts are being made to convene an urgent Arab summit between King Fahd and Presidents Hosni Mubarak and Bashar al-Assad."

An Arab diplomat explained that this summit might be held on Sunday or Monday in al-Riyadh.

But diplomatic sources in al-Riyadh ruled out the meetings of the three minister to have any link to what have been said on convening the tripartite summit. The sources say that a tripartite summit as such might abrogate the need to convene a pan Arab summit.

Before leaving Cairo, Moussa said his meeting with his Syrian counterpart "aims at good preparation for the Arab summit and drawing a final conception for its work agenda," adding that consultation are not limit to the three countries Egypt, Syria and Saudi Arabia but also can include all Arab states.

However, the plenary Arab summit will be held on October 21 in Cairo.

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