Arab League keen on enhancing Asian Cooperation

The Arab League said Tuesday that it is keen on enhancing Arab-Asian cooperation to best serve the interests of both side and the future aspirations of both peoples. Nabil Al-Arabi, the League's Secretary General, said in his speech at the opening of the Asian Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) that Arab nations form a part of the Asian Continent with and there are "strategic" interests to foster. In this context, Al-Arabi referred to the establishment of the first Arab-Asian forum in 2004, namely the Sino-Arab Forum, followed by several similar entities with Russia, india, Japan and Central Asian countries. He called for benefiting from the economic development experience in Asia to confront challenges facing the Continent, especially as it showed improvement in its competitiveness and productivity levels on global scale. He said that the first SCD Summit convenes amid several challenges and crises, which puts everyone before a historic responsibility to join efforts towards enhancing cooperation for finding peaceful solutions according to international laws. Furthermore, Al-Arabi called for stepped up efforts to resolve the Palestinian issue, the current crisis in Syria, combating the proliferation of nuclear arms and transforming the region into a WMD-free zone. "We are planning to convene an international conference in Helsinki during December to discuss this matter," Al-Arabi pointed out. In that matter, the League looks forward for regional support, expressing deep concern over present disputes among Asian countries, which should be resolved peacefully and according international laws.