Cairo meeting calls for Arab common market

Concluding its 70th ordinary session held in Cairo on Wednesday, the Arab Economic Unity Council has asserted the importance of revitalizing the Arab common market.

The council also urged the international community to lift the economic embargo imposed on Iraq, and voiced backing for Iraq's unity and territorial integrity.

The council also ratified the council's secretariat's budget for the year 2000. The budget is estimated at US $850,000.

Meanwhile, the secretary general of the Arab Economic Unity Council (AEUC), Hassan Ibrahim, stressed the importance of setting up an Arab common market to confront international and regional challenges.

He called for achieving a just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East, Israel's withdrawal from all occupied Arab lands and lifting the sanctions imposed on Libya and Iraq.