The Official launching ceremony of the third Africa-Arab Summit held in Kuwait City
At the occasion, H.E the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the State of Kuwait expressed appreciation to the African Union and the League of Arab States for their commitment and valuable contribution towards the organization of the 3rd Africa-Arab Summit and the preparation of the working documents of the Summit, which include the Draft Kuwait Declaration. He highlighted the theme and objectives of the Summit which focuses mainly on trade and investment issues and expressed his fervent hope that the Summit will come up with concrete projects that would impact on the lives of the people of the two interrelated regions.
H.E. Amb. Jean- Baptiste Natama on his part expressed the appreciation of the African Union to H.H the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, and the people and Government of the State of Kuwait for their generous offer to host the 3rd Africa-Arab Summit. Recalling the vast experience of Kuwait in organizing such high level events, he expressed his hope that the Summit will be a great success both in terms of organization and outcome. He considered Africa and the Arab Regions as one and highly interrelated region referring to the membership of nine African countries to both the African Union and League of Arab States. Amb. Natama explained in detail the untapped potential of the African continent, in particular in the areas of Agricultural development and food security, which, if complimented with the Arab investment could enhance the living standard of not only the African and Arab peoples but also the outside world. In this regard he considered the Theme of the 3rd Africa-Arab Summit “Partners in Trade and Development” to be contemporary and appropriate. He further informed the gathering that Africa is now a very stable continent with the exception of few pocket areas and hence requested the media to show the real image of the continent to the international community. Referring to the celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the OAU/AU, he made mention of the Agenda 2063, which summarizes the priorities of African for the coming 50 years, emphasizing on human capital development. In this direction, he highlighted the role the Africa-Arab Partnership will play to achieve the desired result.
H.E. Dr. Nabil Elaraby, the Secretary General of the League of Arab States also expressed appreciation to the State of Kuwait for hosting the Summit and thanked members of the Coordination Committee of the Africa-Arab partnership for the preparatory work accomplished in the past one year. He underlined that the 3rd Africa-Arab Summit will be different from those of the previous summits as it focuses only on economic issues and will be more result oriented.
The press conference was preceded by a Tripartite Consultative Meeting between the African Union Commission, the General Secretariat of the League of Arab States and the Host Country of the Summit. The meeting among other things discussed the status of preparation of the Summit and dissemination of working documents as well as the launching of the Website of the Summit and other logistical issues.
At the end of the ceremony an Agreement on logistical and material preparation of the 3rd Africa-Arab Summit was signed between H.E. Amb. Jean Baptiste Natama, representing the African Union Commission and H.E. Khalid Suliman Al-Jarallah, Foreign Ministry Undersecretary, Representing the State of Kuwait.
