Saudi Arabia to host Arab summit in May: Arab League chief

BEIRUT, Lebanon

The upcoming Arab summit will be held in Saudi Arabia in May, Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit said Tuesday.

Speaking during a joint press conference with caretaker Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati in Beirut, Aboul Gheit said the summit is likely to focus on economic issues.

“The main topic of the summit is likely to be economic to deal with how to help the needy Arab regions,” he added.

Mikati, for his part, underlined the importance for the summit “to adopt economic ideas and initiatives that contribute to achieving the development goals in the Arab countries.”

Aboul Gheit’s visit to Lebanon came a few days after Saudi Arabia and Iran agreed on Friday to resume bilateral relations during talks facilitated by China.

Aboul Gheit termed the Saudi-Iranian agreement as “very positive”.

"The outcome of the initial Saudi-Iranian summit is to establish a kind of political and security stability between the two countries, but its repercussions on all issues in the region are not yet clear,” he added.

*Ikram Imane Kouachi contributed to this report.