Al-Assad confers with the Saudi FM on Arab League development

The Saudi foreign minister Prince Saud al-Faisal yesterday held talks in Damascus with the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and with the foreign minister Farouk al-Shara on several debated issues to develop the Arab league.

Saud al-Faisal conveyed a message to President Bashar al-Assad from the Saudi crown prince on coordination between Saudi Arabia and Syria concerning current issues in the Arab arena.

The Saudi minister said that coordination with Syria comes at a time when the Arab nation is facing what he described as heavy events.

Al- Faisal had discussed this issue in Cairo with the Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and the secretary general of the Arab League Amr Moussa and the Egyptian Foreign minister Ahmed Maher.

Moussa said that his talks with Maher and al-Faisal dealt with preparations for the next Arab summit and drafting a plan for developing the Arab League. Moussa added that the coming phase will be witnessing inter- Arab contacts to prepare for the summit, noting that the foreign ministers of the Arab Gulf cooperation council GCC will hold a meeting to coordinate issues prior to the Arab ministerial meeting.

Moussa said that the Tunisian foreign minister, al-Habib Bin Yahya, will be visiting Cairo shortly in the framework of a tour on several Arab states and that the Moroccan Foreign minister Muhammad Bin Issa will also arrive shortly to Cairo to hold talks.

On the other hand, news reports in Cairo said that the Egyptian security forces foiled yesterday an Israeli attempt to sneak into the building of the Arab league.

Egyptian well-informed security forces said that two persons alleged they are two members in a press work team about to make meetings with certain AL officials. But the Ministry of the Interior men were able to disclose their Israeli identity and to notify the security sides at the Arab league.