Cairo, 07-14 AUG 2016: The African Union Commission (AUC) and the General Secretariat of the League of Arab States (LAS) held a series of extensive meetings at the Headquarters of LAS in Cairo to discuss all issues related to the implementation of the 3rd Africa –Arab Summit held in Kuwait 2013 and the preparation of the upcoming 4th Africa-Arab Summit which will be held in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, Nov 2016.

First: The second meeting of Africa-Arab partnership of working Groups on Trade, Investment, Transport, Communication and Energy was held from 07 to 11 August 2016 at the HQ of LAS, these working groups were established based on the resolution of the third Africa-Arab Summit which underscored the need to strengthen cooperation in the above mentioned areas. The meeting was co-chaired by Dr.Mohamad AlTawaijri, Assistant Secretary General for the Economic Cooperation at LAS and H.E Amb. BOUZAHER Abdelhamid, Head, AU Permanent Delegation to LAS as well as Participants from relevant departments of AUC and LAS.

In their opening remarks both co-Chairs expressed their commitments and readiness to ensure the success of the meeting, to finalize the project profiles of the priority areas and to draft the new Action Plan for 2017 -2019 to be presented at the Upcoming Africa-Arab Summit. H.E Amb BOUZAHER advised the meeting to thoroughly examine the project profiles and prioritize them in terms of their completeness and financial viability with a suggestion to expand the current matrix to reflect the meaningful impact of the proposed project on the lives of both African and Arab people.

During the closing session of the meeting participants considered the matrix, the project profile, the proposed economic part of the declaration and agreed on the theme of the economic forum which will be on transport.

The Joint AU/LAS Press conference

Second: The First Drafting Committee meeting of the fourth Africa-Arab Summit was held from 12 -14 August 2016 at the HQ of LAS. The meeting was co-chaired by Mr. Zeid El Sabban, Director of the Africa and Africa-Arab Cooperation Department of the League of Arab States and H.E Amb. BOUZAHER Abdelhamid, Head, African Union Permanent Delegation to LAS, as well as participants from relevant departments of AUC and LAS.

In their remarks the co-chairs stressed on the importance of this meeting which going to examine the main documents to be presented at the fourth Africa-Arab Summit in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, Nov 2016, taking into consideration the time frame of only 3 months left for the two secretariats to finalize their work. The meeting deliberated and critically examined and amended the Draft Malabo Declaration and the Action Work Plan 2017 -2019.

The meeting also reviewed the progress on the implementation of the resolutions of the third Africa Summit as well as the proposal for new resolution for the fourth Africa-Arab Summit.

Finally the meeting agreed to elaborate and enrich all draft documents which are going to be presented at the 11th Senior Official Meeting and the 3rd Preparatory Committee meeting of the 4th Africa-Arab Summit on 05 -08 September 2016, in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea.

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