Morocco called, Thursday in Cairo, to deploy more efforts to strengthen Arab economic cooperation and integration, in order to overcome the current economic and social challenges.
Speaking at the 111th session of the Economic and Social Council at ministerial level, Morocco’s Ambassador to Egypt and Permanent Representative to the League of Arab States, Ahmed Tazi, stressed the need to accelerate the pace of economic and trade integration projects and work to achieve optimal convergence between legislative and technical systems, in order to achieve higher levels of integration among Arab economies.
Despite initial expectations of a gradual recovery of the global economy in 2023, he noted, the fallout from the Ukraine crisis and the resulting sharp increases in food and energy prices have contributed to rising inflation rates to unprecedented levels, with continued disruptions in supply chains, thus aggravating the economic and social challenges facing Arab countries.
Tazi recalled that the 110th session of the Economic and Social Council, chaired by Morocco, saw the adoption of several important decisions and mechanisms related to the Greater Arab Free Trade Area, the development of the customs union, transport freight passenger shipping, Arab food security and the Arab strategy for aquaculture, among other projects that aim to strengthen complementarity and regional integration and contribute to the economic recovery and sustainable development of Arab countries.
In addition, the diplomat praised the spirit of cooperation shown by the Arab League during the last session chaired by the Kingdom, expressing the hope that the current meeting will lead to decisions that would contribute to strengthening cooperation and integration. Arab regions in all economic, social and development fields.
During this session, the council is working in particular on the economic and social file of the 32nd Ordinary Arab Summit scheduled for 2023 in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as well as the preparation of the 5th Arab Summit for Economic and Social Development in November 2023 in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania.
The council also discusses ways to activate the Greater Arab Free Trade Area, the evolution of the customs union, the draft statute of the Arab Coordination Mechanism for Disaster Risk Reduction, investments in Arab countries , in addition to the challenges of Arab food security following the Russian-Ukrainian crisis.