DOHA: A proposal to set up an Arab Fund to finance agricultural development and execution of food security plans is likely to be discussed by Arab leaders at their summit here next week.
The main issues on the summit’s agenda will, though, be the ongoing crisis in Syria, Palestine and the proposed restructuring of the Arab League, aside from economic issues of regional importance. The Economic and Social Council of the Arab League held a meeting yesterday and discussed several draft resolutions that would be tabled at the ministerial level preparatory meeting to be held today.
Yesterday’s meeting, according to Qatar News Agency (QNA), included senior officials from the economy and trade ministries of the member-countries and was chaired by Sultan bin Rashid Al Khater, undersecretary at the Ministry of Business and Trade.
Al Khater told QNA that the meeting discussed the role of small and medium-sized enterprises in economic and social development in Arab countries and mechanisms to set up an Arab Fund to finance agricultural development and food security plans in the Arab world.
Ministers of trade and economy from the Arab League-member countries are slated to meet today and discuss SMEs as well as the proposal of setting up an Arab Fund. Tomorrow, permanent representatives of member countries of the Arab League are scheduled to hold a preparatory meeting while Arab foreign ministers are slated to gather for a preparatory meeting on Sunday.
This will be the most crucial and last preparatory meeting as it would set the main agenda for the Arab summit to be attended by top leaders. The proposal to set up an Arab fund for agricultural development has been made following an extensive study conducted on the issue by the Arab Organisation for Agricultural Development.
The study focuses on ways to bolster efforts to enhance agricultural production in Arab countries to help achieve food security over the next two decades. It also makes proposals for having an emergency plan in place for food security in the region.
On the social front, Arab countries are concerned about raising the status of women in their societies, and with that end in mind it has been decided to encourage literacy and education among women. The Peninsula
