Qatar expects 12 Arab countries to attend - Iraq, Syria, Libya not invited!
Regional, Economics, 10/14/1997

Qatar expects at least 12 Arab countries to attend the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) conference scheduled to be held in Doha next month.

No official confirmation has been received from any of the 15 Arab states that were invited to attend the conference but Qatari officials are expecting to receive such confirmations from 12 countries at least.

The 15 Arab states that have been invited by Qatar to attend the conference include Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Jordan, Kuwait, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Oman, Yemen, Palestine, Mauritania, Djibouti and Comoros.

Iraq, Syria, Libya, Sudan and Lebanon are among the countries that Qatar chose not to invite because the did not take part in the last Mena summit, held in Cairo.

A total of 91 states have been invited to attend the conference and besides the Arab region they include Europe, Asia, Africa, United States of America and Latin American countries.

Top economic leaders have also been invited to attend the meeting and invitations have been sent to the UN Secretary General, GCC General Secretary, Secretary of the Arab League, European Union officials and other top dignitaries.

The government has been deploying enormous efforts to make all preparations necessary to host the conference and all facilities are being arranged. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs denied recent media reports about the possibility of either postponing or cancelling the conference and reaffirmed that Mena conference would be held as scheduled.

Asked about why the meeting was downgraded to a conference from the level of a summit, Ambassador Mohammed Ismail al-Emadi, assistant general coordinator and head of technical committee for the conference told reporters at a press conference in Doha: "We had always wanted this (Mena conference) to be an economic affair and not to take too much on the political side." Besides, the decision to downgrade the meeting from the level of a summit to that of a conference had been taken at a higher level. "A similar decision had been taken in Egypt also," al-Emadi added.

Regarding participation from international companies at the conference the foreign ministry official said no exact figure could be given at present. However, he said he expects at least 200 international firms to send representatives to the conference.

A Foreign Ministry statement on the Mena conference added that 38 international companies including Mobil, Occidental, Maersk, Amoco, Arco, Enron, Elf, Petronas and Philips will participate.

Ambassador Emadi said 469 invitations were devoted for the sponsoring companies, each according to its contribution. Some 215 participation forms for businessmen from 27 countries were endorsed to bring the number of participants from the private sector to 700, he said.

Participation requests were also received from the private sector in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Egypt, Tunisia, Jordan and Lebanon in addition to a large number requests from Europe, Latin America, Asia, Africa, Australia and the United States. Requests were received as well from other several countries and international organisations which were not invited so far.

Some 500 media members are expected to come from abroad to cover the event. The number of foreign participants in the conference altogether is expected to be around 2500 persons, among them around 800 government delegates, 800 businessmen, 300 representatives of international or regional organisations and 500 journalists.  From Qatar itself around 500 people are expected to attend.

The Doha Sheraton Hotel has been chosen to host the event and is still making preparations for receiving participants and providing all media facilities. Most of the sessions will be broadcast live. The Press Center at the Doha Sheraton Hotel has been set up at a cost of QR 10 mn.

The number of sponsoring companies has reached so far 38 firms and sponsorship has reached $3,102,240, which is about six times more than what the sponsoring companies paid for previous conferences.

France is among the first countries that confirmed participation in the conference. French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine affirmed yesterday that his country will send a ministerial delegation to take part in the conference next month. The United States of America has also confirmed its participation and will be represented by Secretary of State Madleine Albright.

Previous Stories:
  Palestinian official denies rift with Qatar on Mena   (10/11/1997)
  Egyptian parties request Qatar stop sending invitations for Mena   (10/7/1997)
  Committee pursues and affirms preparations for Mena   (10/7/1997)

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