Stuttgart meetings convened tomorrow, AL refuses Florence mayor's stand
Regional-European Union, Politics, 4/14/1999

Arab League Secretary General Esmat Abdul Meguid has asserted that the third ministerial meeting of the countries of the European-Mediterranean partnership due to be held tomorrow in Stuttgart, Germany will also discuss in particular the Middle East peace process and stability in the Middle East.

The AL chief, who will head today to Germany, added that the meeting which includes 28 foreign ministers including the FMs of Syria, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria and Libya will be an opportunity to hold consultations and coordinate stances regarding debated issues.

Spokeswoman for the French Foreign Ministry, Anne Gazeau-Secret said the third conference of the foreign ministers of the European-Mediterranean partnership will be held in Stuttgart on Thursday and Friday, at the invitation of the German Presidency of the European Union.

She explained that the Stuttgart conference comes after Barcelona 2, which was held in Malta in April 1997, and the Palermo conference held in Italy in June 1998.

The spokeswoman added that the Barcelona process includes the 15 European Union member states and 12 Mediterranean states, including Libya. She added that Libya is the new country in the Stuttgart conference which will take part for the first time as a special invitee following the suspension of the embargo imposed on it.

Syria asked the EU last week to invite Libya to this week's forum meeting.

Mauritania, a non-Mediterranean country, will be a guest at the meetings.

The AL, meanwhile, told Italy of its rejection of the position advocated by the mayor of Florence who extended an invitation to the mayor of occupied city of Jerusalem to attend a symposium under the title of Mediterranean meetings in next July. This protest was expressed in a message the AL chief sent to Italian Foreign Minister Lamberto Dini during his meeting with the Italian ambassador in Cairo.

The AL chief added that Arab-Italian relations are good and that the invitation should be settled in the context of such good relations.

Earlier, Palestine's permanent representative at the AL, Muhammad Sabeih, submitted a memo of protest to the AL chief and asked him to intervene with the Italian authorities to pressure the mayor of the city of Florence either to cancel the symposium or the invitation extended to the Israeli mayor to participate.

Previous Stories:
  Gaddafi confers with Italian foreign minister   (4/8/1999)
  Libya to join European - Mediterranean partnership   (4/7/1999)
  President al-Assad confers with EU envoy on Middle East peace   (4/7/1999)

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