Balkhadem calls for reform of the Arab League

The Algerian foreign minister Abdul Aziz Balkhadem said that the Arab summit in Algiers by the end of the current month will witness a great turnout in comparison to earlier Arab summits.

This summit, he said will be attended by 18 leaders of the Arab League member states in addition to figures and officials in international commissions and leaders of western countries including the UN secretary general Kofi Annan and the Spanish foreign minister Jose Louis Thapateiro.

In a press conference in Algiers, Balkhadem said that Algeria's summit will deal with several issues including the situation in Darfur which is considered the grave preoccupation for all Arab states, rather than Sudan only which will host the next Arab summit conference instead of Djibouti which gave up its role in hosting the Arab summit. Balkhadem also stressed that the reform of the Arab League will begin starting from Algeria's summit and will continue in further summits.

Balkhadem said in a press conference in Algiers that the document of reforms proposed by Algeria met with great response among the Arab states in the meeting of the Arab foreign ministers held in Cairo. He added that the conference adopted several proposals including means of changing the way of voting is done in order to move away from the current system which requires consensus and results in obstruction.

The Algerian foreign minister indicated that the issue of electing the secretary general of the Arab League is a basic matter, as stated by the Arab League charter and that Egypt's assuming the general secretariat post is just a feeling of gratitude. He called for the need of a democratic measure in assuming the post of the Arab league secretary general. He stressed that this issue will not be discussed in Algeria's Arab summit because the term of office of the current secretary general end in 2006 and therefore the change advocated by Algeria will be eventually after the next summit.