Intensive Syrian- Egyptian moves on the summit
Regional, Politics, 3/31/2004

The Arab states yesterday intensified its diplomatic moves to arrange the convening of the Arab summit after Tunisia had postponed it.

The Syrian foreign minister Farouk al-Shara yesterday conveyed two messages from President Bashar al-Assad to the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and to the Saudi crown prince Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz on arrangements to convene the summit.

Following his meeting with Mubarak in Sharm Esh Sheikh, al-Shara stressed that Tunisia's decision to postpone the summit was for reasons behind the "confine of the preliminary meeting, which was convened by the Arab foreign ministers in Tunis.

Al-Shara expressed his optimism over the convening of the summit and his hope to have a comprehensive response from the Arab states " for convening it." Al-Shara denied the emergence of differences during the ministerial meeting in Tunisia between Syria and Libya concerning the evacuation of the region from mass destruction weapons.

He also denied any differences over what was rumored of Syrian reservations on what was stated in the Syrian paper for reforms, stressing that during Tunisia's meetings this paper was discussed. Al-Shara also stressed that Syria supports the Arab peace initiative which was approved in Beirut two years ago.

Prior to his meeting with al-Shara in Riyadh, the Saudi crown prince stressed the need of the Arab nation to proceed forward and not backward.

In a meeting for the Saudi Cabinet yesterday, the crown prince called for continued consultations among the Arab states in order to ensure all appropriate conditions to convene the summit as soon as possible.

The Saudi sources stressed that the crown prince will discuss with President Mubarak in Sharm Esh Sheikh today the possibility of convening the summit before the end of April, according to Saudi sources. One Saudi official asked to be anonymous indicated that Riyadh finds it necessary to convene special meetings between Egypt and Tunisia in order to reach an agreement on the date and venue of convening the summit.

The Jordanian king Abdullah II will also arrive today ( Wednesday) in Sharm Esh Sheikh to hold talks with President Mubarak on the Arab summit.

However, the Egyptian foreign minister Ahmed Maher denied plans to convene a mini Arab summit in Sharm Esh Sheikh including the leaders of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Syria, according to the mass media. News reports said that Maher tried to be conservative over the convening of the mini summit so that the Arab masses will not be getting more frustrated.

On the other hand, the secretary general of the Arab league Amr Moussa said he will visit Tunisia next Friday to meet with the Tunisian President in the framework of a tour which will also cover Morocco, Algeria in order to hold consultations on the date and venue of convening the summit, Moussa stressed that the summit should be held under the chairmanship of Tunisia, regardless the place where it will be held.

Previous Stories:
  Arab charter for human rights models US, European ones   (3/30/2004)
  Moroccan government regrets Arab summit postponement   (3/30/2004)
  Saudi FM statements on postponed summit   (3/30/2004)

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