Qatar stresses importance of ties between Arab world and Latin America

Qatar has underlined the importance of co-operation between the Arab world and Latin America, highlighting His Highness the Amir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani’s recent visits to Ecuador, Peru, Paraguay and Argentina, and the Arab-South American Summit hosted by Doha in 2009.
This came in a speech delivered by Qatar’s Minister of Municipality and Environment, HE Mohamed bin Abdullah al-Rumaihi, to an international conference about the partnership between the Arab world and Latin America, organised by the Institute for Spanish and Portuguese Studies in Rabat.
Minister al-Rumaihi stressed the need for interaction between the Arab world and Latin American countries which, when combined, account for 30% of the UN member-states.
The minister urged commitment to the decisions issued at the summits held between the two sides, especially in terms of visit exchange, and called for holding periodic meetings every year and a half at the level of ministers concerned with trade and industry and chambers of commerce in the Arab world and Latin America, and for forming joint committees in order to follow up the decisions of summits and ministerial councils.
The Minister of Municipality and Environment also addressed issues related to trade exchange of food, energy, and raw materials.
In this context, he called for more serious support for food security issues and more attention to contributing to international trade and investments.
He underlined that both sides share the responsibility to achieve common interests, stressing the importance of co-operation and planning between the two sides.
He reviewed the relations between the Arab world and Latin America, noting the crucial challenges facing these countries and their peoples, the most important of which are the challenges of food and water security and education.
The international conference on the partnership between the Arab world and Latin America discusses a number of topics related to the political and diplomatic dynamics, trade and investment as drivers of bilateral relations, regional economic integration and its role in partnership, common challenges in the areas of food security, energy and border protection and others.