Arab, African countries prepare for Kuwait joint Summit

Negotiations between the Arab and African countries' representatives continue for the preparations of holding an Arab-African joint summit to be hosted by Kuwait November 19, being third of its kind. A press release issued by the media and communications sector at the League of Arab States' Secretariat said on Thursday that the negotiations resulted in reaching an agreement on the final joint draft report of the Arab League Secretary General and the African Union's Commissioner. Both sides also have had a consensus on the key issues namely investment, agricultural development, food security, increasing of commercial exchange, infrastructure, besides immigration, it said. The press release highlighted the final agreement on the joint meeting's agenda of the Arab and African agriculture ministers that will be held in Riyadh between October 1st and 2nd of this year, besides setting a timetable of all activities related to preparing for the joint summit. The "Kuwait Declaration" to be issued by the expected Arab-African summit will include bolstering cooperation in the fields of politics, economy, investments, partnerships between civil society institutions and private sector, it added. It will also include further coordination in the Arab-African positions towards political issues of common interest, especially regional security and peace. Agreement on such issues and dossiers came following a one-week meeting of the joint Arab-African drafting committee at the African Union's (AU) headquarters in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, which concluded its activities last Saturday. A delegation from Kuwait participated in the meeting, headed by Kuwaiti Ambassador to Ethiopia Rashed Al-Hajri.