{"id":33139,"date":"2019-02-25T04:02:27","date_gmt":"2019-02-25T04:02:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=33139"},"modified":"2019-02-25T04:02:27","modified_gmt":"2019-02-25T04:02:27","slug":"eu-and-arab-league-seek-common-ground-at-first-summit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=33139","title":{"rendered":"EU and Arab League seek common ground at first summit"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\nSHARM EL-SHEIKH: Saudi Arabia’s King Salman joined leaders from Europe and the Middle East in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh on Sunday night for the first EU-Arab League Summit.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cRelations between the Arab world and the EU have a long history at all political, security, economic and cultural levels, as well as geographical interdependence,\u201d he said in his opening remarks. This \u201cnecessitates the parties to strengthen their relations in all fields, and achieve the common interests and aspirations of their peoples to ensure a dignified life free from conflict,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\nThe king said the Palestinian cause is a priority for Arab countries, reminding delegates of the Saudi position and his country\u2019s \u201cfirmness\u201d toward restoring all the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people.<\/p>\n

\nThe Kingdom stresses the importance of a political solution to the Yemeni crisis on the basis of the Gulf initiative and the results of Yemeni national dialogue and UN Security Council Resolution 2216,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\nThe king blamed Iran for the current situation in Yemen, saying Tehran\u2019s support for Houthi militias \u201cand others in the region, its aggressive practices and blatant interference in the affairs of other countries,\u201d require \u201ca unified international position to abide by the rules of good neighborliness and international law.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nHe entered the summit center with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, who is co-chair of the two-day meeting with EU President Donald Tusk.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\"\"<\/p>\n

\n\u201cI\u2019m aware that there are differences between us. We\u2019re not here to pretend that we agree on everything, but we face common challenges and have shared interests,\u201d Tusk said in his opening remarks. \u201cWe\u2019re here to strengthen our cooperation for the benefit of our peoples. We need to do this together and not leave it to global powers far from our region. I look forward to our open and honest discussions over the next two days.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n

\nThe event, attended by delegates from 47 countries, aims to bolster Arab-European ties and address a wide range of common challenges.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nAmong the issues on the leaders\u2019 agenda are multilateralism, trade, investment, migration and security.<\/p>\n

\n\"\"<\/p>\n

\nEU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said the gathering in Egypt of around 40 heads of state and government is about much more than migration. EU sources said the first EU-Arab Summit is all the more important as the US \u201cdisengages\u201d from the region while Russia and China make inroads.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\u201cWe don\u2019t want to see this vacuum soaked up by Russia and China,\u201d one of the sources told AFP.<\/p>\n

\nThere was one plenary session on Sunday night, on enhancing Arab-European partnership and addressing global challenges, before a \u201cfamily photo\u201d and dinner.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nThe summit continues on Monday with a \u201crestricted session\u201d on regional challenges and a second plenary session in the afternoon.<\/p>\n

\nOn the sidelines of the summit, Arab News caught up with Saudi Trade and Investment Minister Majid Al-Qasabi. \u201cHaving summits like these bridge, bond, improve and enhance communication between the two continents and sides, European and Arab,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThere\u2019s no doubt that this is a very positive step and enhances the communication highway. At the end of the day, our political and economic issues are always addressed through such forums.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SHARM EL-SHEIKH: Saudi Arabia’s King Salman joined leaders from Europe and the Middle East in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh on Sunday night for the first EU-Arab League Summit. \u201cRelations between the Arab world and the EU have a long history at all political, security, economic and cultural levels, as well as…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":33140,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33139","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\/33139","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=33139"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33139\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/33140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}