Egypt's permanent delegate at the Arab League Hazem Khairat said the Arab countries are very much determined to hold a successful first Arab economic summit. In an exclusive interview to Al-Masry Al-Youm, he said the efforts made by the Arab governments and Arab capitals' enthusiasm confirm that everyone wants this summit to be successful. He added that Egypt has made many efforts and has constantly been keeping in contact with different Arab capitals to give the summit the momentum it deserves and to let it be successful. He then affirmed that Egypt would contribute with many projects and policies as well as coordination to achieve as much consensus as possible among Arab countries. "The Arabs have a clear collective will to enhance the Arab common work and the European Union's experience is the best example in this regard" he affirmed. Khairat said the summit would be held on January 19 and 20, 2009, and would be anticipated by a forum to discuss all the issues that Arab citizens are concerned with, such as unemployment, poverty, investments and social development. He also pointed out that Egypt would participate very actively in all the summit proceedings. According to Kheirat, the summit is due to issue the Kuwait Declaration, which he said aims at improving Arab citizens' conditions and focuses on the projects and work programs that try to achieve Arab economic integration. In response to a question on the impact of the global economic crisis on the summit, he said that the decision to hold this summit was taken before the outbreak of the crisis and that he expected the crisis itself would overshadow the Kuwait proceedings. "We must take advantage of this crisis to achieve the common Arab work by boosting investments, inter-trade and the exchange of commodities and services among the Arab countries, as we don't want to be affected by the economic changes and crises currently happening in the world" he said. Kheirat added that meetings are expected to be held among the Arab countries to lay down a common vision on how to face the global financial crisis, affirming that the Arab economic summit aims to "speed up the creation of the common Arab market". "We mustn't forget that this is the first Arab economic summit and that we're now in a new world ruled by interests and intertwined economic relations" he said.
