ARAB AFFAIRS - Mar 21 - Kingdom, Jordan In Pre-Summit Talks.

Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah holds talks with Jordan's King Abdallah on major regional issues including Palestine and Iraq as part of his efforts to make the March 28-29 Arab summit in Riyadh a success. Before talks with Abdallah, the Saudi king received the conjoined twins from different countries including Iraq, Sudan, Malaysia, Egypt, the Philippines, Poland and Morocco, who were separated at Saudi hospitals during the last 16 years as well as their families and ambassadors of these countries. The Saudi-Jordan summit talks took place at Abdullah's ranch in Janadriya, the Saudi Press Agency said. Earlier, the Jordanian monarch was received at Riyadh airport by King Abdullah and top officials including Riyadh Governor Prince Salman and FM Prince Saud Al-Faisal. The Jordanian king has called for the relaunch of the Arab peace plan that offers normalisation of ties with Israel in exchange for its withdrawal to pre-1967 boundaries and the establishment of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital. Saudi Arabia has stepped up preparations for the summit, which is expected to open a new era in Arab joint action. The two-day conference will focus on major issues such as Palestine, Iraq, Lebanon and Sudan, according to Ahmad Kattan, Saudi Arabia's permanent representative at the Arab League. Speaking to Arab News, Kattan said he expected the summit would be a big success given the diplomatic efforts made by the Kingdom under the leadership of King Abdullah over the past six months. "This summit is significant as it comes when the Arab world is going through a dangerous situation", he said. "These challenges demand intensive efforts from our leaders to set out strategies to confront them effectively". "The continuation of these problems will affect the region's prosperity and development and make it a region of conflicts", he added, saying he hoped the Riyadh summit would adopt effective resolutions satisfying the hopes and aspirations of the Arab people. Kattan, who is currently in Riyadh to prepare for the summit, said the Arab leaders would also discuss a number of other important issues, including the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, the Shi'ite-Sunni conflict and measures to boost educational, economic and social development in the Arab world. Kattan called upon all member countries to implement the resolutions taken by past summits to strengthen the Arab League. He said a number of countries including Saudi Arabia and Syria have endorsed the Arab Peace and Security Council Law. Muhammad Al-Tuwaijeri, assistant Arab League secretary-general for economic affairs, said the summit would discuss ways of strengthening economic cooperation among member countries and pave the way for setting up the Greater Arab Free Trade Zone. It will review a report on establishing an Arab customs union and principles to be followed on determining origin of products to expand inter-Arab trade. In a related development, the Ministry of Culture and Information has set up a media center at the Riyadh Marriott for Saudi and foreign media persons to cover the event. Abdullah Al-Jasser, deputy minister, said the ministry would publish daily bulletins in Arabic and English on the summit's activities. It has also set up a website on the summit.