Palestine, Syria dominate Arab ministers’ meeting

The concerns of the people of Palestine, Syria, Iraq and Yemen were the main topic of the opening session of a meeting of Arab ministers held in preparation for the Arab development summit on Sunday in Beirut, Arab News reported last night. The meeting in the Lebanese capital’s Phoenicia Hotel saw unprecedented security measures covering a large area, including the summit’s venues and the accommodation of guests and journalists.

Only three presidents have so far confirmed their attendance at the summit — those of Lebanon, Somalia and Mauritania. However, the Arab League’s Assistant Secretary-General Hossam Zaki called for “separating between the attendance and the summit itself, and the importance of its topics and the resolutions it will produce.”

During a media briefing, Zaki said: “The attendance of Arab leaders will undoubtedly increase the importance of the summit, but their absence, which has spurred media commentary, does not diminish the importance of the topics addressed by the summit — and many summits are not attended by presidents.”