Lebanese Ministry of Information
President Michel Aoun Tuesday received an official invitation to attend the Arab Summit to be held in Saudi Arabia later this month.
Aoun was handed the invitation, extended by Saudi King Salman, during a meeting at Baabda Palace with Saudi Minister Plenipotentiary Charges d’Affaires in Lebanon Walid Bukhari. The Arab Summit will be held on April 15 in Dhahran.
In the written message, King Salman said that Aoun’s personal attendance at the summit would “have a great effect on its success,” according to a statement from the presidency.
The king also expressed hope that the summit will assist “the mutual work of the Arabs and the combat against the challenges that our Arab nation is facing, and … the goals and ambitions that our people are aiming for.”
Aoun, the statement added, thanked the Saudi King for the invitation, saying that he would head the delegation to Saudi. He expressed hope that the summit would lead to results that would strengthen Arab unity, particularly at these difficult times.
During a Cabinet session last month, Aoun confirmed that he intended to attend the summit, in what will be an ice-breaking move after the president took a critical stance towards Saudi Arabia during Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s resignation crisis last year. Hariri later revoked his resignation, and local media have reported that the premier will accompany Aoun on his visit to the Arab Summit.
Aoun first visited Saudi Arabia as president in January 2017. The Free Patriotic Movement, which he founded, is allied with Hezbollah, which Saudi Arabia has accused of fomenting instability in the region and targeting Gulf nations in its capacity as a proxy for Saudi Arabia’s arch-rival Iran.
The upcoming Arab Summit is being held in an effort to block Israel’s ascension to the U.N. Security Council as a non-permanent member – a position that is allocated on a rotating basis.
Israel is a candidate for a two-year term on the council beginning on Jan. 1, 2019. Elections for the council are slated for mid-2018 during the U.N. General Assembly’s 72nd session.
