By Xinhua
Damascus : Amr Moussa, Secretary General of the Cairo-based Arab League (AL), said here Tuesday that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad will preside over meetings of the upcoming Arab summit “the moment he enters the hall”.
Moussa made the remarks to the press after meeting with Assad on the agenda of the summit in Damascus on March 29-30.
The AL chief said that the opening session would be public, describing his talks with Assad as “very good”.
Moussa’s comment after media speculations over the summit chairmanship procedures amid absence of the previous summit chairman, Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul-aziz.
Also on Tuesday, a Syria source told reporters that Assad would not receive the presidency of the meeting from Saudi Arabia at the lower delegate-level.
There was a precedent at the Tunis summit in 2004 when King of Bahrain Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa, president of Arab summit in 2003,did not show up. Thus Tunisian President Zine al-abidine Ben Ali did not receive the chairmanship from the Bahraini delegate and “just sit on the chair directly,” said the source.
On Monday, Saudi permanent representative to the Arab League Ahmad Qattan announced that he would attend the Arab summit on behalf of his country, ruling out the presence of Saudi King Abdullah or Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal.
Qattan’s announcement reflects a rift between Damascus and Riyadh over the political crisis in neighboring Lebanon, where the presidential seat has been vacant since last November when former President Emile Lahoud stepped down.
A long-awaited parliamentary session to elect a new Lebanese president to succeed Lahoud has been postponed for 17 times till April 22.
Saudi Arabia and Syria support different parties in Lebanon, with Riyadh, along with its Western allies, backing the majority led by Saad Hariri in the Lebanese parliament while Damascus and its ally Tehran supporting the opposition led by the Shiite Hezbollah movement.
Arab heavyweights Saudi Arabia and Egypt are blaming Syria for blocking the presidential election in Lebanon, an allegation denied by Damascus.