LOC12:29
09:29 GMT
KUWAIT, Nov 19 (KUNA) -- The preparatory committee of the Arab Economic, Social, and Development Summit is to convene its sixth ministerial meeting in Cairo Thursday presided by Kuwaiti Minister of Finance Mustafa Al-Shimali.
Al-Shimali is to head to Egypt accompanied by a host of officials representing both the Ministry of Finance and the Foreign Ministry.
The committee is to review the draft Kuwait Declaration and projects proposed for discussion at the summit, which include power integration, railway routes, and plans on food security and countering unemployment.
The committee is also to review the draft summit agenda with items including water resources management and integration towards sustainable Arab region development and the recommendations of the committee's senior official level meetings which began yesterday and are to wrap up today.
Also among important issues to be discussed is the outcome of the "Arab Economic Integration from the Private Sector's Perspective" conference, organized last week by Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which is to be presented to the officials at the summit.
The committee meeting is attended by the ministers of finance and economy of Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Syria, Qatar, and Tunisia.
The Arab Economic, Social, and Development Summit is due to be hosted in Kuwait January, and the call for the summit came at the 2007 Arab Summit in Riyadh by His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.
His Highness the Amir had stressed there was an increasingly complex and serious challenge to be faced in the economic, social, and development fields in the Arab world, which merits set up of a specialized framework for focused joint work.
Sideline events are to include forums for Arab men of thought, as well as gatherings for NGOs to discuss many economic, social, and development issues. (end) sar.wsa KUNA 191229 Nov 08NNNN