{"id":30038,"date":"2019-01-21T17:23:20","date_gmt":"2019-01-21T17:23:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=30038"},"modified":"2019-01-21T17:23:20","modified_gmt":"2019-01-21T17:23:20","slug":"divided-arab-economic-summit-we-must-help-suffering-refugees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=30038","title":{"rendered":"Divided Arab economic summit: We must help suffering refugees"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\nBEIRUT: The fourth Arab Economic and Social Development Summit was held in Beirut on Sunday, in an effort to, among other things, find ways to alleviate the suffering of refugees in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

\nThe summit, though attended by representatives from 20 Arab nations, was soured by the absence of most Arab heads of state, and was divided over several issues, including the absence of Syrian delegates, and a boycott by Libya.<\/p>\n

\nThe summit did, though, call for dialogue with the international community over growing tensions between Israel and Palestine.<\/p>\n

\nDelegates expressed their support for the Palestinian people, and cited the \u201ccollective responsibility\u201d of all parties towards maintaining the city of Jerusalem\u2019s \u201cIslamic and Christian identity.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nIn a statement, the summit declared: \u201cWe reiterate Palestinian refugees\u2019 rights of return and compensation, according to the UN General Assembly\u2019s resolution 194 of 1948.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nDelegates also discussed at great length the need for international cooperation to support the growing digital economy across the region. They emphasized \u201cthe importance of building the necessary capacity\u201d to benefit from the digital economy, and praised the initiative launched by the Emir of Kuwait, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, to create a sovereign investment fund to support the development of technology in the Gulf and the Middle East.<\/p>\n

\nThey urged all Arab nations to \u201csupport this initiative to strengthen the joint Arab economy,\u201d and called on other Arab banks and funds to invest in it.<\/p>\n

\nThe summit also praised the role of small and medium businesses across the Arab world for their contribution to flourishing Arab economies, as well as the implementation of the Pan-Arab Renewable Energy Strategy 2030, to ensure power across the region becomes cleaner and more sustainable.<\/p>\n

\nThe summit was far from harmonious, though, with the Lebanese foreign minister, Gebran Bassil, addressing the hall to ask the international community \u201cto assume its responsibilities by finding effective solutions for the return of Syrian refugees to their country.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nBassil called on Arab nations and others to \u201cshoulder the burden, honor their commitments and meet the refugees\u2019 needs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nThere were also disputes over the attendance of the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, as well as the boycott by Libyan delegates.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cI am saddened because of the absence of the Libyan delegation, and by the circumstances that led to this point,\u201d Arab League president, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, said.<\/p>\n

\nLebanon\u2019s president, Michel Aoun, echoed the words of his foreign minister, calling on the international community \u201cto exert all efforts to provide the safe return of Syrian refugees to their country, and to present incentives so they can contribute to their country\u2019s reconstruction.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nHe proposed the establishment of an international Arab bank to help affected countries overcome the crisis, and invited established Arab funds to Beirut to discuss his proposals.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cI deplore the absence of other Arab presidents and kings, but each of them has his reason. Our union remains of great importance given that we will not be able to address the challenges facing our region and peoples, unless we agree on key issues,\u201d Aoun said.<\/p>\n

\nThe next Arab Economic and Social Development Summit will be held in Mauritania in 2023.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BEIRUT: The fourth Arab Economic and Social Development Summit was held in Beirut on Sunday, in an effort to, among other things, find ways to alleviate the suffering of refugees in the Middle East. The summit, though attended by representatives from 20 Arab nations, was soured by the absence of most Arab heads of state,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":30039,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30038"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30038\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/30039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}