Pan-Arab, Central Asia economic forum opens in Doha to push ties

DOHA, April 30 (KUNA) -- An economic forum bringing together countries from the wider Arab region, including Kuwait, and central Asia kicked off in the Qatari capital Doha on Tuesday in a bid to propel bilateral relations to greater levels.
The gathering, in which Azeribajian is also a participant, is tantamount to a message conveying the "solidity and depth" of relations between the two regions, Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammad bin Abdulrahman said in a speech, cherishing the event as a platform to push forward more cooperation given their "joint economic interests." He spoke of "limitless challenges" that are prevalent in both regions and the world alike, which behooves Arab countries and their Central Asian partners to ratchet up cooperation to keep such hardships at bay, which would subsequently usher in a "new era" of prosperity and development, the minister underlined.
Through its hosting of the gathering, Doha aims to set in motion a raft of joint investment projects covering a wide array of fields, including clean energy and the environment to healthcare and education, he said, expecting these endeavors to pay dividends in bolstering economic development.
In his speech, Arab League chief Ahmad AbulGheit spoke of the Cairo-based bloc's goals of reaching out to the international community, citing some notable deals it had clinched with a number of countries with Asian nations such as Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan as part of its efforts to bring that goal to fruition.
He described the hardships facing the two regions as "intertwined," saying these obstacles can only be solved with "collective action" given their complexity, citing rampant conflicts in countries such as Syria, Sudan and Libya as cases in point, in addition to Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which he said was chief among these challenges. (end) sss.nam