(with photos) CAIRO, Dec 4 (KUNA) -- Kuwait aspires to render the Arab economic summit it would host in January a basis for boosting joint Arab action as a means for service of the higher objective of inter-Arab economic integration, the visiting Kuwaiti Finance Minister said on Thursday.
Mustafa Al-Shimali, addressing the inaugural session of the extraordinary session of the Economic and Social Council of the Arab League, held here at the ministerial level, said the Kuwaiti Government, as part of the efforts to secure success of the summit, formed a higher steering commission, headed by a government minister to address all the necessities for the preparations.
Elaborating, he indicated that another preparatory commission, that had been set up by the Arab League, had held up to 10 meetings, examining 350 bills, presented by the member states of the Arab League, for inclusion into the agenda of the top-level conference.
The commission has contributed in the drafting of the proposed projects, particularly those involving several Arab states, such as the power grid, the land and railway networks, the food security program, the Arab blueprints for boosting employment and cutting unemployment.
It has also, Al-Shimali, added, drafted the communique of the summit that addresses a host of economic and social topics.
Al-Shimali, in his presentation to the fellow conferees, shed light on extensive preparations that had been taken at home for the upcoming eventful summit.
The current meeting here is genuinely intended to review the measures that had been made for holding the summit, as well as the proposed subjects that would be examined by the summiteers.
For his part, the Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa called on Arab states to reconsider the mechanisms of coping with effects of the the international crises, noting that the Arab economy, in 2007 and 2008, noticeably shrank due to jitters caused by the global financial crisis.
The league will call for an emergency meeting of the Arab finance and monetary officials to discuss the crisis, he declared, adding that a chain of Arab-level meetings would precede the Kuwait summit, such as sessions for the economic, social affairs ministers, the finance executives and the govenors of the central banks. (end) mab.mfm.rk