Lebanese President Michel Aoun on Sunday called for the return of Syrian refugees to their country without waiting for a political solution.
The Arab Economic and Social Development Summit was inaugurated at its fourth session in the absence of an overwhelming majority of Arab leaders and leaders, who "regret" Aoun for not attending.
The summit was attended by the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani and Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, as well as heads of government and ministers of absentee leaders.
A number of presidents have apologized in recent days for attending without giving any clear reasons, most recently the Tunisian and Somali presidents.
"Lebanon calls upon the international community to exert all possible efforts and to provide the necessary conditions for the safe return of displaced Syrians to their country, especially to stable or low-tension areas, without being linked to a political solution," Aoun said.
The Lebanese authorities estimate the presence of some 1.5 million Syrian refugees, most of whom live in difficult conditions, and are already burdening Lebanon´s fragile economy.
The issue of refugees is one of the most important points on the agenda of the economic summit, which calls on Lebanon to adopt an item on the need for their return.
Aoun called for the establishment of an Arab bank for reconstruction and development.
In his speech, Aoun referred to the absence of representation of Arab leaders. "We regret the absence of the brothers and kings and presidents and they have no excuse for their absence."
In recent days, Lebanese newspapers have criticized the poor leadership presence at the summit, describing it as a "summit without heads".
"We wanted this summit to be an occasion to bring together all the Arabs. There are no vacant seats. We have made every effort to remove the reasons that led to this vacancy, but the obstacles were unfortunately stronger," Aoun said.
And overshadowed the preparations for the summit during the last period discussions on the possibility of inviting Syria to attend.
Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil called Friday for Arab ministers to return Syria to the Arab League.
The Arab League suspended membership in Damascus in 2011 against the background of repression against demonstrators against the Syrian regime at the time, before peaceful movements turned into a bloody and destructive conflict that continues.
However, the past period has seen an Arab openness towards Syria, mainly the visit of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to Damascus to be the first Arab president to visit since the beginning of the conflict, and the return of both the UAE and Bahrain to open their embassies there. Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit said Thursday that Syria´s return to the university was awaiting "Arab consensus".
Libya, for its part, boycotted the economic summit for what it considered an abuse after ripping off activists from the Amal movement led by House Speaker Nabih Berri, the Libyan flag.
The Amal movement called for not receiving the Libyan delegation because it considered that officials in Tripoli did not need to reveal the details of the disappearance of the founder of the movement Imam Musa al-Sadr in Libya in 1978 during the rule of Muammar Gaddafi.
The Arab foreign ministers and economy on Friday held a preliminary meeting to discuss the agenda of the summit, and prepared draft resolutions relating to 29 items, and has seen a copy of AFP.
Among the proposed draft resolutions, in addition to the issue of refugees, call upon Member States, financial institutions and donors to "provide technical and material support to the Republic of Yemen" contributes to reconstruction.
As for the Arab Customs Union, which was supposed to be established in 2015 after being discussed in previous sessions, most recently in Riyadh in 2013, one of the draft resolutions calls on the Arab countries to expedite the completion of the requirements for its establishment.
It is also supposed to discuss developments in the establishment of a free trade area, called for by previous sessions of the Summit without actually being applied on the ground.
Aboul Gheit said that "the negotiation of the Greater Arab Free Trade Area (GAFTA) is about to reach its goal," pointing out "the completion of about 95 percent of the detailed rules of origin."
And hoped that it would be completed "including the liberalization of trade in services, as soon as possible."
At the same time, Aboul Gheit said that the region "still lacks sufficient volume of economic activity with high productivity," pointing out that economic growth rates "are still insufficient to achieve the desired development boom."
He said that "accelerating the removal of the largest number of people from the abyss of extreme poverty is the best way to dry out the sources of extremism and terrorism," pointing out that "about 20 percent of the population of the Arab world live in situations under the name of multidimensional poverty."
Kuwait´s Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khalid Al-Sabah announced at the opening session an initiative to establish a fund for investment in technology and economy with a capital of 200 million US dollars with the participation of the private sector.
Qatar and Kuwait will contribute $ 50 million to this fund.
Lebanon calls during the Arab Economic Summit for the return of Syrian refugees to their country
