Senior officials conclude pre-summit draft agenda for FMs meeting

Arab and African senior officials concluded preparatory meetings on Saturday aimed at drafting the agenda of the Foreign Ministers' meeting, which precedes the 3rd Africa-Arab Summit. Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Khaled Al-Jarallah praised the scale of cooperation he had witnessed at the meeting, which he said, illustrates the commitment of the officials to the success of the bi-regional talks. He also expressed confidence that the November 19-20 summit would result in positive recommendations in the benifit of both regions. For her part, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, and Ethiopia's Permanent Representative to the African Union and UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) Kongit Sinegiorgis expressed appreciation of the efforts carried out by Kuwait aimed at the success of the talks and at boosting economic cooperation. Also, Foreign and International Cooperation of the former head of the summit, Libyan Undersecretary Abdelrazzaq Al-Graidi expressed his profound gratitude to Kuwait for the warm hospitality he had recieved upon his arrival. The officials, over a three-day period, discussed draft resolutions and the Kuwait Declaration for tomorrow's meeting of Foreign Ministers, who will refer these recommendations to the summit on Tuesday. They also discussed a report on the main joint activities of the African Union Commission and the General Arab League Secretariat and proposed measures to enhance the institutional capabilities aimed at implementing the 2011/16 African-Arab work plan. In addition, they reviewed ways to rationalize mechanisms of execution and follow-up for Afro-Arab partnership. A report on the second meeting of the Arab and African ministers of agriculture and food security which was held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia last October, was also discussed