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Arab League Summit Kicks off Sunday in Dammam With Iranian, Turkish Fray Top of Agenda

Published April 10th, 2018 - 02:00 GMT
Meeting with Secretary-General of the Arab League Ahmed Abul Gheit  (AFP/File Photo)
Meeting with Secretary-General of the Arab League Ahmed Abul Gheit (AFP/File Photo)

Arab leaders, kings and princes gear up to participate in the 29th Arab Summit scheduled to kick off next Sunday in Dammam with a busy agenda dominated by the Iranian and Turkish interferences in the region, the Palestinian issue, the crises in Syria, Libya and Yemen and the fight against terrorism.

A delegation from the General Secretariat of the Arab League arrived Monday in Riyadh to take part in the preparatory meetings of the Summit.

Mahmoud Afifi, spokesperson of the Secretary-General of the Arab League, said that the delegation would include the general-secretary assistants of the Arab League, permanent delegates of the member states of the pan-Arab body and a media delegation.

“The Summit comes amid great challenges facing Arab states,” Afifi said on Monday.

Asked whether Qatar has been formally invited to attend this year’s Arab League summit, Afifi said, “In fact, an invitation was sent for Qatar to attend the summit.”

Pointing out the Turkish intervention in north Syria and Iraq, the spokesperson said that any foreign party that affects regional unity and the sovereignty of an Arab state to protect its own national security and regional unity is therefore threatening Arab national security.

Afifi also said the League is clearly involved in the Libyan crisis, due to the special nature of this file.

 

 

He praised Arab League Special Envoy to Libya, Salah al-Din al-Jamali for his efforts to resolve the political crisis in the country and to coordinate between the Arab League General Secretariat and UN envoy to Libya Ghassan Salameh.

Dammam’s meeting will be the first Arab League summit since Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain cut their diplomatic ties with Qatar 10 months ago and the first since US President Donald Trump announced his decision to relocate its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

“Talks at the Summit will be mainly dominated by the foreign interferences in Arab states, particularly from Iran and Turkey,” Afifi said.

 

This article has been adapted from its original source.

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