BRUSSELS (Halbeeg News) – Somali State Minister for Foreign Affairs, Abdikadir Ahmed-Kheyr Abdi has attended the fifth Arab-European Ministerial Meeting, which started on Monday in Brussels, Belgium.
The minister leading Somali delegation reached Brussels on Sunday and held sidelines meeting with several European ministers.
The Summit focused on cooperation between the two sides and preparations for the first Arab-European summit scheduled for February 24.
Speaking at the opening of the meeting, Abdikadir has stressed the importance of the relations between Europe and the Arab league.
He emphasized that the Somali government could benefit from the improved relationship between the two sides.
The minister urged the participants of the summit to establish peace and achieve peoples’ economic goals.
On the other side the Vice-President of the European Commission and High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, stressed the importance of cooperation between Europe and the Arab world.
Mogherini called on the two sides to work to resolve the Palestinian issue to prevent the collapse of the two-state solution and to find a political solution to the crisis in Syria.
The Secretary-General of the Arab League Ahmed Aboul Gheit called for Arab-European cooperation to deal with the growing numbers of crises and problems threatening the Middle East.
“There were more complications on the European side than the Arab side,” Aboul Gheit said.
In a friendly but public sign of disagreement, Mogherini snapped back: “I would say the contrary.”
He expressed hope that the upcoming Arab-European summit will lay the foundation for robust institutional cooperation for both parties.
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