Arab Socio-economic council kicks off, economic aspects high on summit agenda
Regional, Economics, 3/25/2002

The Arab League Social and Economic Council started meetings on Saturday under the chairmanship of Lebanese Economy Minister Basil Flayhan.

The meeting was held in presence of Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa and the Arab economy ministers.

Addressing the conferees, Flayhan stressed the importance of such Arab meetings in light of the international circumstances, especially the establishment of major economic blocs such as the World Trade Organization (WTO) , the European Union (EU), the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) as well as other economic blocs.

The Minister pressed the need for the adoption of a joint Arab economic action, the Arab states have the potentials to work out their own future strategic economic plans, he added.

He called on the Arab states to invest their potentials to realize an economic integration among them.

Although the joint Arab economic action has witnessed a marked progress by the implementation of steps to realize an Arab free-trade area, but there are some aspects of Arab economic cooperation that still raise differences among Arab states, he said, urging for a comprehensive effort to overcome all those differences.

The Lebanese economy minister said that giving an impetus to the joint economic Arab action requires unifying Arab trade and export and import regulations so as to facilitate inter-Arab trade exchange and face up foreign competitiveness in the Arab and international markets.

Commenting on the Arab-Israeli conflict, Flayhan said it is not only a military and a political, but is also an economic one.

The Minister pressed the need for modernizing the Arab economy to enable it face the various challenges.

He expressed hope that these meetings could achieve the aspired targets and reach brave resolutions that could push forward the joint Arab action.

Speaking before the meeting, Arab League Chief Amr Moussa said that last year's Amman Arab summit attached great importance to the Arab economic action and issued resolutions considering the joint Arab action a cornerstone on the way of bolstering economic cooperation in the Arab world.

The economic aspects always figure high on the agenda of all Arab summits in a bid to activate the Arab economic march so as to realize a better way of living and a better future for the Arab people, Moussa said.

Moussa noted that time is now ripe to charge the Social and Economic Council with the full responsibility to coordinate efforts on the various levels with the different Arab financial institutions to serve the Arab economic action.

He said the Economic Council should assess what have been achieved of the resolutions of the Amman summit and refer a report on the issue to the Beirut summit in order to remove the impediments standing in the way of implementing them.

Previous Stories:
  Importance of regular political and economic summits to address Arab issues   (3/23/2002)
  King Mohammed calls international community to double public assistance to development   (3/22/2002)
  Moussa and the Arab economic conference   (3/20/2002)

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