Arab League Summit to go Ahead in Baghdad

The Arab League envoy to Iraq, Ahmed Bin Hili, said on Wednesday that Iraq is ready to host the next Arab League Summit, expected to be held in Baghdad in March.

According to AKnews, Bin Hili arrived in Baghdad on 30th January to inspect the preparations for the summit, which has been postponed several times since March of last year due to the wave of uprisings across the Arab world.

He 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.”

The Arab League and the Iraqi Government have agreed on 29th March as the date for the Summit. Bin Hili said the agenda will be different this time, being more open 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.

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 last hosted the Summit in May 1990.

(Source: AKnews)