Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar met League of Arab States Secretary General Ahmed Aboul Gheit in New Delhi on January 30 to discuss strengthening cooperation between the two sides across various sectors.
Following their talks, Jaishankar in a post on X, wrote, “A warm meeting with Secretary General, League of Arab States Ahmed Aboul Gheit this morning. Had a wide ranging conversation about our cooperation and strengthening it across various domains. Also exchanged views on the recent developments in the region.”
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) extended a warm welcome to Gheit, an Egyptian politician and diplomat. “Pleased to welcome H.E. Ahmed Aboul Gheit, Secretary General of the League of Arab States, who arrived for the 2nd India-Arab Foreign Ministers’ and related meetings. High-level engagements over the next two days reflect the shared commitment for a stronger India-Arab partnership across sectors,” MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal posted on X.
The second India-Arab Foreign Ministers Meeting is expected to build on existing cooperation and expand the partnership. The IAFMM will be preceded by the 4th India-Arab Senior Officials’ Meeting.
The Foreign Ministers’ meeting is taking place after 10 years, as the first meeting was held in Bahrain in 2016. During the first Foreign Ministers Meeting, the leaders identified five priority verticals of cooperation – economy, energy, education, media and culture and proposed a set of activities across these verticals.
“India Arab Foreign Ministers’ Meeting is the highest institutional mechanism driving this partnership, which was formalised in March 2002 when India and the League of Arab States (LAS) signed an MoU institutionalising the process of dialogue,” the MEA stated.
