No Middle East - North Africa economic in 98

The Arab League's assistant secretary-general, Abdul Rahman al-Sahbani, stressed that the 1998 Middle East and North Africa economic conference will not be convened because of the Middle East peace process deadlock.

The United Arab Emirates' Gulf News daily quoted al-Sahbani as saying that the future of the economic summit depends directly on the extent of the progress attained in the peace process, which has been obstructed by the policy pursued by the Israeli government.

The director of the World Economic Forum, Gregory Plat, who organizes the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) economic conference told the paper, "We do not want so many countries to boycott the economic conference as happened last year. So as we will postpone convening of the conference until progress in the Middle East peace process is achieved."

Plat added that the decision in not to convene the next conference came following full discussions with businessmen and political leaders.