Arab parliamentarians meet on common market

In the course of the current session of the Arab Parliamentary Union, held in Damascus, the parliamentary commission for the Arab common market held its first meeting on Tuesday, led by the chairman of the Arab Parliamentary Union, Fathi Sorour, who is also the speaker of the Egyptian Parliament.

Sorour spoke about the steps taken to establish a parliamentary commission for the Arab common market. He asserted the importance of completing a study on this market. He reviewed the current Arab economic conditions on four tracks, namely a greater Arab free trade zone, the Arab common market, bilateral free trade zones and semi-regional economic blocs.

Sorour called for the realization of streamlined Arab economic cooperation to counter challenges facing the Arab economies represented by political, economic and technical problems. The secretary general of the Arab Economic Unity Council, Hassan Ibrahim, reviewed in his presentation the march of Arab joint action since the establishment of the Arab League in various economic areas.

He indicated the steps made by the Arab Economic Unity Council (AEUC), which includes seven states, through a notable increase in the volume of commercial exchange among these states, also the establishment of four joint Arab companies with a total capital of US $1.5 billion. These companies are developing over 100 projects in the Arab states, he added.

Ibrahim presented the executive program approved by the AEUC for the resumption of the complete application of the rules of the Arab Common market by the lifting of customs charges for three years as from the year 2000.

Later in the day, the participating Arab parliamentary groups presented and discussed their papers which dealt with obstacles hindering the achievement of Arab economic integration.