Abul-Gheit on Iraq's absence from Arab meeting

Egypt's Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit said Tuesday that the Arab Ministerial Committee on Iraq will convene in Cairo on Wednesday as scheduled despite the absence of Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiar Zibari,"said Abul-Gheit's during a joint press conference held with his visiting Mexican counterpart Luis Ernesto Derbez.

This came in response to a question to the Egyptian top diplomat on the convocation of such meeting.

Abul-Gheit explained that he had received calls from Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa in which he asserted that the League would go on with holding the meeting in conformity with an agreement reached during the recent Khartoum summit.

Answering a question on the importance of establishing an Arab-Iranian dialogue to get posted on the US-Iranian contacts on Iraq, the Minister said: "I do not believe that it is suitable for Arabs to discuss the Iraqi issue with just one neighbor."

There is a group of Iraq's neighboring countries which hold regular meetings for discussing all issues related to Iraq among its neighbors, he added.