The meeting of senior foreign ministry officials from Arab countries and their Latin American counterparts kicked off here on Saturday, as part of preparations for the Fourth Summit of Arab-South American countries, which will start on November 10-11, under the chairmanship of Saudi Arabia.

Speaking at the inaugural session, Saudi Undersecretary of the Foreign Ministry for Multilateral Relations Turki bin Mohammed bin Saud said that Arab countries and their Latin American counterparts have similar viewpoints toward a host of international issues.

He also hailed the positive stances of the Latin American countries and their supportive stances to Arab causes.

The coordinator of Latin American countries pointed out to the success attained between the two countries over the past period.

Meanwhile, the Arab League's assistant secretary-general for political affairs Fadel Jawad hailed the ongoing efforts in the preparatory meetings of the summit.

"We seek to attain consensus among the contentious issues in order to start a new phase of cooperation and close ties which are based on joint interest between the two sides," he added.

The summit is expected to be attended by several world leaders and presidents. It seeks to maintain cooperation and coordination among Arab League member states and South American countries in various fields.

The coming summit will issue Riyadh Declaration which will tackle the stance of the two regions towards the current international and regional developments.

Source: MENA