The Algiers Summit: Arab leaders discuss solutions at Reunion’ summit
After an absence of three years, the 31st Arab Summit kicked off on Tuesday evening in the Algerian capital, under the title “Reunion,” with a wide audience of Arab leaders reaching 13 leaders and 7 second-level representatives.
Arab Leaders
Leaders of the Arab countries arrived in Algeria, headed by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, President Abdel Latif Rashid of Iraq, Abdul Fattah Al-Burhan, President of the Transitional Sovereignty Council of the Republic of the Sudan, President Mahmoud Abbas of the State of Palestine, President of the Libyan Presidential Council Mohammed el-Menfi, President of the Comoros Othmani Ghazal, and Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati. Macky Sall, President of the African Union, also visited Algeria as a guest of honor for the 31st Arab Summit, which President Tebboune received at Houari Boumediene International Airport.
United Arab Emirates High-Level Delegation
In the same context, Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates and Ruler of Dubai, led his country’s delegation to participate in the summit held in Algeria. During the preparatory meetings for the Arab summit last Saturday, the United Arab Emirates presented three initiatives to strengthen Arab cooperation. Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri, Minister of Economy of the United Arab Emirates, confirmed the State of the Emirates’ full support for the efforts of joint Arab action for growth and prosperity. In a speech he delivered during the Economic and Social Council preparatory meeting for the 31st ordinary Arab Summit in Algiers, he added that “work must be intensified to increase inter-Arab trade.”
Opening session
Tunisian President Kais Saied handed over the presidency of the Arab Summit to Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, thus assuming the presidency of the 31st Arab Summit. Tebboune announced the opening of the Council of the Arab League at the summit level. Tebboune said that the Arab summit hosted by his country is taking place in exceptional regional and international circumstances, adding: “Our Arab countries must be an economic force in the international community”, noting that the exceptional international circumstances are undermining economic and political stability. The Algerian President, in his speech during the 31st Arab Summit, stressed that Palestine remains the first issue for the Arabs, stressing the imposition of the two-state solution and the support of the Palestinian people. He stressed the need to build a unified Arab economic bloc to address the challenges facing the region.
The word of Aboul Gheit
For his part, the Secretary General of the Arab League, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, said that the Arab summit hosted by Algeria comes after three years of interruption imposed by the circumstances of the coronavirus pandemic, pointing out that the timing of the meeting came at a time, as the changes the world is witnessing in the past decades are unprecedented. During his speech on the first day of the Arab Summit in Algeria, Aboul Gheit added, “The tremendous consequences these changes in international circumstances have on peoples and countries around the world, makes the summit a necessity and an opportunity to arrange our papers and discuss our Arab issues and positions in a world that is moving in a frightening liquidity, and whose crises are succeeding in a horrific sequence”.
He pointed out that the Arab region is at the heart of the crises, on the one hand, it is a fundamental pillar in the equation of energy supplies and prices, on the other hand, it is a first victim of climate change and its destructive effects, in terms of drought and other issues, on the other hand, the region suffers from a serious threat to its food security, and the majority of its countries are located in the scope of water poverty, in addition to the illegal actions of some of its countries by their neighbors that would endanger their security”, he added, “This dangerous trio, food, energy and climate, where it represents a continuous link and a coherent system, as food production depends on energy prices and climate stability, and climate change is mainly affected by emissions from energy production, and the three elements have become the title of the global crisis that we are currently witnessing, with all its economic and humanitarian consequences for the people”. He stressed that the Arab region is in urgent need of a comprehensive strategy to deal with the “protracted crisis situation,” in order to fortify Arab societies and strengthen their resilience in the face of sudden shocks and crises, “The Arab Food Security Strategy, presented at the summit, is just one example of what Arab countries can collectively do in facing their crises,” he said.
