reps KUWAIT, Jan 20 (KUNA) -- The closing session of the Arab Economic Summit "In Solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza" began Tuesday with speeches by representatives of civil societies and Arab youth, as well as the Comoros president.
Reem Badran, representative of civil societies, reviewed the outcomes of the summit's "Private Sector and Civil Society Forum" and the recommendations it referred to the Arab leaders.
These recommendations included raising competitiveness of the Arab production sector so that it may deal with the global economic crisis, improving investment environment, and supporting Arab development funds.
The recommendations also underscored the importance of maintaining economy away from politics, taking measures to guarantee food security through effective agriculture policies, efficient use of energy resources, implementing transportation projects, and taking steps to counter challenges of climate change.
They also called for placing an educational and scientific research plan, and endorsing a plan deal with unemployment and especially that of youth.
On her part, Arab youth representative Samar Al-Marghali said the new year of 2009 witnessed two major events, the first of which was the Israeli aggression on Gaza Strip, in which many children were killed.
The second event, she said, was holding of the first Arab summit that focused on social and economic issues and attended by representatives of the civil society and private sector, the youth, decision makers, and officials.
She said that despite the challenges of this new year, the aspirations and hopes of youth were growing thanks to the initiative for holding this summit.
Meanwhile, Comoros President Ahmad Abdullah Sambi said the summit was being held at a critical and complicated time, both at the political and economic levels.
He said that when one spoke of youth, one was speaking of the future, and that the future was in investing in resources.
The president said that the political situation was the key to successful economy and cultural prosperity, and economy was the lifeline for all countries.
He called for opening borders among the Arab states and to boost tourism, adding that the Comoros was a "paradise on earth" and invited Arabs to invest in his country and make it one of the main sources of income for the region.
-- Meanwhile, Lebanese President Michel Suleiman said in a speech that despite the catastrophe in Gaza, the Arab leaders sought to reach conciliation over core of what they needed to do to support Gaza, stop the Israeli aggression, lift the siege and provide assistance to Palestinians.
He said the leaders succeeded in agreeing on Kuwait Declaration and mechanisms to implement resolutions that would elevate the standard of living of Arab citizens and economic integration and development.
He added that when working to separate economy from politics, one must realize that nationalism was what unified politics, and in this case it was Arab nationalism. (end) kt KUNA 201455 Jan 09NNNN