Bin Hili: Iraq ready to host Arab Summit
01/02/2012 17:48
BAGHDAD, Feb. 1 (AKnews) – Arab League envoy to Iraq Ahmed Bin Hili said Wednesday that Iraq is ready to host the next Summit of the league that is expected to be held in Baghdad in March.
Bin Hili arrived in Baghdad on Jan. 30 to inspect the preparations for the Summit that has been deferred since March last year several times due to the wave of uprisings that swept across the Arab world.
Bin Hili told a joint press conference with the Iraqi Foreign Mnister Hoshyar Zebari that “all the preparations are there to make the next Arab Summit in Baghdad successful”
“There is a unanimous decision by the [Arab countries] leaders to hold the Summit in Baghdad and there is no observation on holding it in Baghdad, but there is support and provision f means of the success of the Summit”
The Arab League and the Iraqi Government have agreed to set March 29 the date of the Summit. Bin Hili said the agenda of the next Summti ni Baghdad will be different this time. It will be more open to the Arab street and more interactive with the Arab [Spring] events”
Iraq’s Hoshyar Zebari said there was a real “desire and willingness” among many of the Arab countries to have an active participation in the summit in Baghdad. And the Iraqi authorities are keen on providing security for the Arab officials attending the summit, he told the conference.
The hosting of the Summit in Baghdad has been hailed by Iraqi leaders as a “national achievement” and symbolic of Iraq’s return to the Arab arena.
Iraq has not hosted the Arab Summit since May 1990 due to the years of economic and political sanctions imposed on the country by the UN following the invasion of Kuwait the same year.
By Yazn al-Shammari
RY/AKnews
