Reasons for King Abdullah's absence from summit

A Jordanian official said that the reason who the Jordanian King did not attend the summit was because of health reasons, stressing that there is no political dimensions for his being absent.

In exclusive statements to the Jordanian news agency and the Jordanian TV in Beirut, the minister of state for political affairs and information minister, the official spokesman for the Jordanian government Muhammad al-Edwan said that the Jordanian King was exposed to a deteriorated health condition after his coming back from a long journey to Spain, Britain, the US and Mexico after which he suffered throat aching.

The Jordanian minister said that it was presumed that the King would have left for Beirut on Tuesday evening and after he was given necessary medication, it was decided to postpone the travel until Wednesday morning but doctors advised the King not to travel. Al- Edwan noted that the Jordanian King was the first to call for convening the Arab summit in Beirut and worked for providing it a success.