Egypt optimistic over Beirut Summit

Egyptian Prime Minister Atef Ebeid, said on Wednesday Egypt is optimistic over the results to be reached by Beirut summit.

Speaking to MENA, he said this summit represents a step forward on the road to achieving peace, restoring occupied Arab territories and Palestinian rights including the one to set up an independent Palestinian state.

On the Saudi initiative, Ebeid said Egypt fully supports this plan presented by Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah Ben Abdel Aziz. "This initiative will be studied in depth by summiteers as well as ways to put it into force, he said.

The initiative carries a message to the whole world that Arabs are peace-advocates, he added.

Premier Ebeid further noted that Egypt is seeking inter-Arab economic cooperation with an ultimate goal of setting up the Arab common market.

Egypt holds that the common market would not be set up completely at one time, rather it would be established in a phased way starting with markets trading in specific goods and services.

Such a method would avert threats of the Arab states having conflicting interests and guarantee rapid success of the market.