Algeria summit will be milestone on road to revitalizing joint Arab action: Aboul Gheit
Global developments should not affect the pursuit of solving Arab issues, said Arab League SecretaryGeneral Ahmed Aboul Gheit at the opening session of the foreign ministers’ preparatory meeting for the 31st Arab Summit, to be held in Algeria on Nov. 1-2.
“We all aspire that this summit will be a milestone on the road to revitalizing joint Arab action, renewing its blood and enhancing its effectiveness,” he said, adding the summit was taking place after nearly three years of interruption due to the COVID-19 pandemic and amid major developments on the international and regional stage.
He stressed that the summit is the most important mechanism of joint Arab action as it sets its regulatory framework, formulates the vision within which it acts, and determines strategic objectives.
He also said the Arab League “remains in need of all of your support in order to continue to fulfill its mission — whether by fulfilling contributions according to the quotas established for countries, or by actively engaging in its work, in all fields and aspects of activity that are organized under its umbrella.”
Aboul Gheit stressed the need to work to end political and security crises in countries such as Syria and Libya.
He added that these crises not only burden the region with an unimaginable humanitarian and economic cost, but also provide loopholes through which non-Arab regional powers implement subversive plans.
Addressing these crises and reaching political settlements remains the most important key to ending harmful and destabilizing interventions, he added.
Aboul Gheit said that there was no doubt that the food crisis and the threat to food security were important priorities, and expressed hope that the summit would witness the launch of the Arab food security strategy.