Today, Thursday, Assistant Secretary-General of the League of Arab States, Hossam Zaki, expressed the League’s support for Algeria’s efforts aimed at Arab and Palestinian reunification through the Arab summit to be held next November, considering that this is “the real entrance to more effective and efficient Arab action.”
Hossam Zaki said in an interview with WAG that the current Arab situation requires making all efforts to achieve reunification, and “Algeria is a serious country and has a history of Arab reunification, and the Algerian leadership has great interest in this issue,” expressing his support and “great” satisfaction with this Efforts that are “the real entrance to more effective and efficient Arab work.”
The diplomat paused at the Palestinian division, “a subject that hurts us as Arabs,” pointing out that Algeria took it upon itself to host rounds of Palestinian dialogue, before the date of the summit.
Hossam Zaki stated, in this regard, that efforts by several Arab countries have not been completely cut off to bring the views of the Palestinian factions closer, expressing his hope that Algeria’s efforts will lead to breaking “the Palestinian wall of division that has existed for years.”
He described the meeting he had with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the National Community Abroad, Ramtane Lamamra, yesterday in Algiers, as “excellent”, pointing out that during which all matters related to the holding of the Arab Summit in Algeria on November 2nd and 1st were reviewed, whether “logistical arrangements or… The timetable for work, the issues that could be the focus of the member states’ attention, and many topics that are expected to be on the summit’s agenda.
On the importance of the Algiers summit, Hossam Zaki said, “Everyone realizes that the meeting of Arab leaders at this time is of special importance, as the Arab League has not reconciled since 2019, because the Corona pandemic has disrupted things for a long time, and now we are close to our 31st summit in Algeria, and we believe that the meeting is of great importance, in terms of the presence of Arab leaders in the same place and their dialogue sessions and bilateral meetings.”
He continued, “We all hope that this summit will achieve even part of the hopes and aspirations of the Arab peoples in matters of stability, security, peace and prosperity.” The Assistant Secretary-General of the League of Arab States praised Algeria for dealing with the issue of arranging and organizing the summit with “seriousness and professionalism”, pointing out that he was aware of all the details of the preparations to host the summit, and “we expressed great satisfaction, because it was clear that Algeria took the decision to put great potentials at the summit’s disposal. And the visits of Arab leaders, and the Arab wedding will coincide with the feast of the outbreak of the Algerian revolution, and thus the Algerians and their Arab brothers will celebrate together.”
Hossam Zaki expects that the Algeria summit will witness a wide participation of Arab leaders, especially as it “comes at an important time for the Arab world, as it is in Algeria, and the latter has what it shares with all the leaders of Arab countries, and there are many elements that may lead to a wide participation by the leaders. This is something that enriches the summit and increases its presence in public opinion and in Arab media coverage.”
Hossam Zaki spoke about the highly posed Libyan crisis, highlighting that the Arab position on it is present in successive Arab decisions, the latest of which was the decision issued on September 6, adding that “the matter is characterized by the presence of several obstacles and major challenges, the most important of which is the foreign military presence, which the Arab League always calls for a situation A limit and a quick end to it, along with other challenges.”
Regarding the escort of the General Secretariat of the Arab League to Algeria throughout the preparatory course for the summit, the ambassador said that no effort was spared for the success of this important Arab date.
Regarding the growing demands for reforming and developing the Arab League, the Assistant Secretary-General affirmed that the issue continues “and it was raised two decades ago and some amendments were made, and that was at the 2005 Algiers Summit, and 10 years ago there was an open-ended committee from all countries, from which 4 working groups emerged, Looking for reform.
Hossam Zaki added, “The reform of international and regional organizations with old systems such as the Arab League does not take place overnight,” explaining in this regard that the Arab League “passed a difficult stage, but it passed through it peacefully,” expressing his hope that countries will agree on the issues they want. Repairing and developing it “so that we can close this file.”
Regarding the convening of the Algeria summit “without paper”, the spokesman replied that “history will record that the Algeria Summit 2022 is the first paperless summit of the Arab League, meaning that leaders, ministers and ambassadors, when discussing topics on the agenda, will find them on computer screens with the click of a button, and there will be no No documents or papers in front of them.”
