CAIRO: Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit has stated that the Arab Economic Summit due to take place in January 2009 must be a starting point for greater Arab economic integration if the region is to successfully counter the current global economic crisis.
The foreign minister added that it is vital for the interests of Arab national security.
A statement released by the ministry Monday stated, “The current economic challenges, under the circumstances of world economy such as deceleration of world growth rate in addition to energy and food crises, call for crystallizing a collective Arab strategy to deal with such challenges and resolve problems hindering the Arab economic cooperation.
As such, Egypt will be seeking policies to emerge from the summit which will increase the flow of capital, commodities and labor between Arab countries. The ministry has been formulating a plan for this economic integration with other bodies in Egypt and has sent delegations to Arab countries to coordinate the plan.
The Arab Economic Summit emerged from a joint Egyptian-Kuwaiti initiative at the 2007 Arab Summit in Saudi Arabia. The world food crisis that has occurred since then has heightened the importance Aboul Gheit has placed on the summit.
“Arab states have several unexploited points of strength, thus, it is necessary for the upcoming economic summit to come out with effective decisions to benefit more from the Arab resources and to employ them in serving development goals in the Arab region especially in sectors of transportation and infrastructure, the statement read.
Aboul Gheit said that the private sector will have a big role to play in this effort, but that more importantly there needed to be a “political drive to change the vision of Arab business sector as investments should extend beyond national boundaries into all Arab countries.
