Lebanese Republic 
Preparation meeting for the Arab Economic and Social Development Summit
Minister of Economy and Trade, Raed Khoury, presided over the preparatory meeting for the Arab Economic and Social Development Summit that will take place this weekend in Beirut.
The meeting was attended by the Director General of Economy Alia Abbas; the Presidency Director General Antoine Choukeir; the Advisor to the President Office Fadi Asali; the President of the Council for Development and Reconstruction, Eng. Nabil El-Jisr; the Director General of Ministry of Finance Alain Bifani; the Vice-President of Banque Du Liban Saad Andari; the Director of Arab Affairs Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Emigrants Ali El Mawla; the Counselor of the President, Ambassador Oussama Khachab; the Economic Adviser to Prime Minister Hazar Caracalla and the Member of Parliament Neemat Frem.
The participants discussed the issues that the Development Summit will tackle. Following the meeting, Minister Khoury stated: “we met today with the preparatory committee for the Arab Development Summit which holds periodic meetings, and tackled the summit content as well as the topics that will be discussed . Discussions concentrated on the initiative that we will suggest to his Excellency the President during his inaugural speech to be addressed on January 20th, bearing in mind a concept that we will discuss its content later with his Excellency”.
Furthermore, Minister Khoury added: “Many preparatory meetings will be held from this moment till the convening of the summit. To this purpose, several meetings will be held as of tomorrow, starting by a meeting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Emigrants; then a forum for the Arab Businessmen will be held on Wednesday to discuss the private sector related issues and its role in the financing process. On Thursday, a senior officials’ meeting will be held while a ministerial meeting will take place on Friday. We will host the Arab leaders on Saturday and the Summit will be held on Sunday”.
In this regard, Minister Khoury declared: “This summit is of great importance for Lebanon regarding its location in the region amid the current difficult economic circumstances. We witnessed both good and hard days; which is thing known and not secret to our Arab Brothers. In addition, the summit timing is also important because it will tackle an issue of great significance to Lebanon: the Syrian refugees’ issue which places a high burden on the lebanese economic; noting that the reconstruction process of the region and Syria is inevitable and we shall be totally prepared to this purpose; especially that Lebanon is made ready on the geographic and economic level. It is an appropriate time for meeting. This summit is the fourth to be held and His Excellency the President will presided over it for a period of four years”.
