European-Mediterranean meeting in Beirut June 2-3

Foreign ministers of Arab states participating in the European - Mediterranean partnership will discuss during their meeting to be held in Beirut on June 1-2, means of consolidating the position of Arab states taking part in partnerships in all fields and issues to be submitted to the conference evaluating the partnership process to be held in Palermo, Italy on June 3-4.

The Arab League's assistant secretary-general for political affairs, Muhammad Zakaria Ismael, in charge of the "partnership" area at the AL, said the Beirut coordination meeting comes at the invitation of Lebanese Foreign Minister Fares Boueiz. He added that the partnership meetings will focus on three main topics, regarding which the Arab foreign ministers seek to take united stands: security and stability in the Mediterranean to which the Middle East peace process developments are linked, regional economic and financial cooperation with which Israel tries to become involved without achieving any progress in the peace process, and cultural and social cooperation and humanitarian affairs issues.