Leaders of Yemen, Bahrain and Jordan were invited to attend the 8- member summit
Regional, Politics, 5/22/2004

Saudi official sources said that each of Yemen, Bahrain, and Jordan said that leaders of the three countries Ali Abdullah Saleh, King Hamad Bin Issa al-Khaleifa and King Abdullah II received invitations to take part in the 8- greater industrial states summit which will be held in June.

The office of the Yemeni President said that Saleh accepted to attend the summit which will be held in Georgia on June 8 through 10.

Bahrain's News agency said that President Saleh accepted an invitation to attend the summit which will be held in Georgia on June 8 through 10th. Bahrain's news agency said that King Hamad will take part in the summit and will inform the participants about results of the Arab summit which will start today in Tunisia. The agency added that the King will talk about the steps made by the kingdom towards democracy. An official in the Jordanian royal palace said that King Abdullah received an invitation to attend the summit but did not mention if the King will fulfill the invitation.

The G-8 summit will discuss several issues including the future of Iraq after transfer of authority from the occupation forces to the Iraqis on June 30 as well as the Arab- Israeli conflict and the calls for political and economic reforms in the Middle East.

Foreign diplomats said that the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Syria, which are influential countries in the region, were not invited to take part in the summit. They added that the reason behind that is these countries' cold response to the reform calls.

The US Department Of State had announced that the US president George W. Bush extended invitations to attend the summit for the leaders of 6 African states which are Southern Africa, Nigeria, Uganda, Senegal, Algeria and Ghana. The G-8 is composed of Canada, USA, Britain, Japan, France, Germany, Italy and Russia.

Previous Stories:
  European union commited to Roadmap   (5/21/2004)
  Minister highlights obstacles to Arab human rights charter   (5/20/2004)
  Mubarak confirms attending the Arab summit in Tunisia   (5/20/2004)

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