Inter-Arab consultations for Damascus declaration, AL council meetings
Regional, Politics, 8/16/1999

The Kuwaiti daily al-Watan said on Sunday, quoting Egyptian political sources, that Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa made a series of telephone conversations and exchanged written messages with his counterparts in the six countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council and with the Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa in order to coordinate stances between the Damascus Declaration signatory states and address the importance of taking part in the coming meeting of the Arab League council, although there is a controversy over Iraq's presidency of the council.

The Egyptian diplomatic sources said that Moussa stressed the importance of the arrival of the GCC and Syrian foreign ministers in Cairo one day before convening the AL council meeting in order to convene a preliminary meeting of the Damascus Declaration member states as well as several bilateral or three-member meetings with the objectives of unifying stances or avoiding surprises from Iraq and certain countries backing it.

At the same time, the Egyptian authorities opposed any coordination with Iraq over the next meeting of the AL council or ensuring any Egyptian backing for Iraqi demands the Iraqi foreign minister intends to raise during the meeting. These demands pertain to inter-Arab reconciliation with Iraq or raising the issue of the UN sanctions on Iraq or taking a united Arab stance backing Baghdad concerning the economic sanctions.

Al-Watan, on the other hand, indicated that high-ranking officials in nine Arab states will start meetings in Syria to coordinate Arab stances toward taking part in the Barcelona conference of the Mediterranean basin due to be held next month with the participation of Israel.

Previous Stories:
  On the coming session of the AL council   (8/14/1999)
  AL sends invitations for meeting of its 112th council   (8/13/1999)
  Damascus Declaration States to meet in October   (8/12/1999)

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