LOC16:24
13:24 GMT
CAIRO, Sept 20 (KUNA) -- The coming Arab economic summit due to be held in Kuwait in January 2009 will attach a special attention to food security, the general coordinator of the summit said here Saturday.
Key issues to be on table also include the projects of infrastructure, railway and road networks, power grid and joblessness, Mervat al-Talawi told Egypt's state-owned Middle East News Agency (MENA).
Al-Talawi, who has recently visited Kuwait as part of preparations for the summit, said there was a general plan to carry out all planned projects, and Arab countries largely hinged upon the private sector to carry out most economic activities on the basis that it controls 70-80 percent of Arab economies.
But, she stressed the importance of Arab governmental presence in such projects, and of financing food security projects.
She also called for carrying out agricultural projects in Sudan in spite of its political problems, considering development as the best way to create stability and overcome conflicts there.
Al-Talawi hoped that a large part of Arab investments and oil earnings could be tapped within the Arab world, urging a diversification of economic activities in Arab countries. (end) az.mt KUNA 201624 Sep 08NNNN