Contacts to set a date for the Arab summit

Egypt's ambassador to the Arab League, Wajeeh Hamdi, has asserted that there are tripartite coordination contacts between Egypt, Syria and Saudi Arabia in order to decide on the final date and special arrangements for the possibility of convening a pan-Arab summit that was called for last week by Egypt, Algeria and Morocco, being an urgent Arab demand in order to discuss several Arab issues.

In a statement to the Kuwaiti daily al-Watan issued on Sunday, Hamdi added that such coordination aims at ensuring the necessary backing for arrangements to convene the summit, on the grounds that Syria and Saudi Arabia are the basis for maintaining any Arab consultation coordination.

He added that it was agreed that Syria and Saudi Arabia will carry out an active role in the coming phase in order to consult with various Arab states in order to set the necessary foundations to convene the proposed Arab summit, in line with the contacts being carried out by the Egyptian president, the Saudi king and crown prince, and Syrian President Hafez al-Assad.

The Kuwaiti paper quoted Egyptian diplomatic sources as saying that the plenary Egyptian contacts with all Arab capitals concerning the final arrangements to convene the proposed Arab summit will start immediately following President Mubarak's return from his visit to the US.

Mubarak's visit to the US will start on Saturday and will continue until July 3, after which he will visit several Arab states and meet with President al-Assad in the first week of July as well as visiting Saudi Arabia in order to agree on a final decision to convene the Arab summit.