Ashraf AboArafe
Mr. Ahmed Aboul Gheit, Secretary-General of the League of Arab States (LAS), participated today, Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in Doha, in the opening of the third session of the Arab Economic and Cooperation Forum (AECF) with the countries of Central Asia and the Republic of Azerbaijan.
Mr. Jamal Rushdi, the official spokesman for the Secretary-General, stated that Aboul Gheit delivered a speech in which he expressed his deep appreciation and thanks to the leadership, government and people of the State of Qatar for their generous hospitality and for their initiative to host the work of the third session of the forum.
Rushdi said that Aboul Gheit pointed out that the Arab region, the countries of Central Asia and Azerbaijan constitute a geographical, civilizational and cultural space that holds many commonalities, where relations have blended and exchanges have diversified over the past decades to form a common cultural asset that everyone is proud of.
Aboul Gheit noted that the League of Arab States has worked, since its founding, to consolidate the bonds of cooperation with various regional groupings, as it was self-evident that it would be interested in establishing fruitful Arab cooperation with the countries of Central Asia and Azerbaijan, given the geographical proximity and historical heritage, to form an institutional framework regulating and incubating joint relations, and a space for… To consult on everything that would achieve development and stability for both sides.
Aboul Gheit warned that the two sides face intertwined and simultaneous challenges and crises that cannot be dealt with alone, pointing in particular to the dangerous and unprecedented developments resulting from the brutal Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip, which documents a crime added to the crimes committed by Israel for decades, most notably the crime of The occupation continues.
Rushdi added that the Secretary-General touched in his speech on the seriousness of the recent events, which showed that Israel seeks to liquidate the Palestinian issue at the expense of neighboring countries through a scenario of forced displacement that is rejected by the Arabs, Islam and the world. It also aims to distract world public opinion and distract it from its crimes in Gaza by opening new fronts. It may lead to a regional war.
Aboul Gheit called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, which has become a humanitarian necessity in order to put an end to one of the most serious crimes against humanity in the twenty-first century.
At the Arab level,
Aboul Gheit renewed the League’s firm positions towards finding solutions to the region’s crises in Syria, Sudan, Libya and Yemen through required political consensuses that are comprehensive, end foreign interference, and preserve territorial integrity and integrity.
Regarding economic cooperation between Arab countries, Central Asian countries and Azerbaijan, the Secretary-General called for giving utmost importance to trade exchange and opening broader horizons for investment, noting that the current level of trade exchange between the two groups remains far from the level of ambitions and the capabilities and capabilities possessed by the forum countries collectively.
It should be noted in this regard that the aforementioned forum was launched under the umbrella of the League of Arab States at the initiative of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 2008, and a memorandum of cooperation was signed between the General Secretariat of the League and the foreign ministries of the Central Asian countries and the Republic of Azerbaijan on 5/13/2014 in Riyadh. On the sidelines of the first session of the forum.
