Report: ‘Poor’ Arab Representation at Beirut’s Economic Summit

The Arab Economic and Development Summit will take place on Sunday in Beirut amid “poor” Arab representation after the majority of Arab countries cut down their level of participation which made many describe the upcoming summit “a failure,” al-Joumhouria daily reported Friday.

Beirut’s summit will be held in the absence of kings and state leaders (with the exception of the heads of Mauritania and Somalia), as well as in the “absence of prime ministers and even foreign ministers,” in an unprecedented “low level” of participation since the Arab league was founded in 1945.

Lebanon had aspiration to showcase its role through the summit it is hosting, but the level of attendance revealed “meagre and failed” Lebanese diplomacy, in addition to its inability to convince any Arab country to attend this summit, added the newspaper.

Visitors to President Michel Aoun said he was “surprised” at the series of apologies from kings, presidents and Arab princes, after they confirmed attendance at the summit.

Aoun, who is following the ongoing preparations for the summit, was quoted as saying “Lebanon has presented everything it was asked to, to host a special summit,” but affirmed that the summit will be held on time.

Kuwait's emir, Sheikh Sabah al-Jaber al-Sabah, on Thursday apologized for personally participating in the summit.

Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas are going to dispatch their prime ministers. Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, also apologized.

For his part, the Syrian ambassador to Lebanon, Ali Abdul Karim Ali said his country received Lebanon’s invitation to the summit but won’t be able to attend because the Arab League’s positions from Syria was “abnormal," since it was suspended from the Arab League in 2011.

Libya, on the other hand, has officially decided to boycott the summit, after AMAL Movement supporters removed Libyan flags and addressed insults to Libya near the summit's venue over the disappearance of AMAL Movement founder Imam Moussa al-Sadr.

AMAL accuses the former regime of slain Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi of kidnapping its revered founder, al-Sadr, during a visit to Libya in 1978.