Hariri sorry over Libya's absence from Arab economic summit, Arab private sector forum
Wednesday 16/January/2019 - 02:54 PM
Prime Minister Saad Hariri expressed regret over
Libya's absence from the Arab economic summit and the Arab Private Sector
Forum.
"Relations among Arab brothers must remain above any offenses," he said at the opening session of the forum on Wednesday as quoted by Al Nahar newspaper.
Libya decided to boycott the summit and the forum after Lebanon's Amal supporters removed Libyan flags placed along Beirut’s seaside avenue as part of Arab League preparations to welcome countries attending the summit.
Amal objects that Lebanon builds ties with Libya due to the 1978 disappearance of the movement’s founder, Imam Mousa al-Sadr, and two of his companions during an official visit to the country.
I am very pleased to see among the audience many brothers dear to my heart and to the heart of Lebanon, Lebanon that will continue to thrive through the ones who love it, and they are many among us today, Hariri said.
This forum is important because it will discuss the main points of the summit that will be held on Sunday and the recommendations that will result from it will be submitted directly to the summit, he said.
We hope that it will be a successful summit that meets the aspirations of our people in the next stage, especially as it is the first Arab development summit to be held after the launch of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in 2015.
In this context, we hope that practical recommendations that activate cooperation and raise the living standard of the Arab citizen in all our countries will result from the Summit.
We often repeat our words, we must work together to translate the words into deeds and to be able to accomplish, and this is what our citizens want. In Lebanon, we have laws dating back to fifty or sixty years ago, and this is also the case in many Arab countries. It is time to develop them and work together for the benefit of the Arab citizen and provide him with all the facilities to work.
We must remove all borders that are not concrete borders between our Arab countries, so that the Arab citizen can work in various industrial and commercial fields in all the Arab countries. We spoke a lot about this, and we should implement this. Enough theories, we should start the real work. Many countries have begun to realize that the Arab world is a treasure, and we must invest in it, and demonstrate to all what the Arab world can do commercially and economically.
I would also like to touch upon the role of women in the Arab world. They are half of this world, but how do they represent that in politics and economy? Our economy cannot be complete if Arab women do not participate in all sectors of the state, whether in politics, economy or any other sector. Women can also ease political conflicts. Today, we see how many women assumed important positions, as presidents of the republic or prime ministers.
I would like to thank everyone for being with us today. This is support for Lebanon and hopefully the economic summit will be successful in your presence.
The speech I delivered is very similar to what Minister Raed Khoury just said. This may be due to the rapprochement between the Future and the Free Patriotic Movement, which apparently upset many
