By NNN-KUNA,
Cairo : The Arab League Committee on Housing and Construction met here Saturday to accelerate finalisation of the blueprint of the “single Arab contracting contract.” The meeting, chaired by the committee chief and Director General of the Kuwaiti Public Authority for Housing Welfare Ali Al-Fawzan, gathered representatives of the housing ministries of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Sudan and Iraq, as well as the Federation of Arab Contractors.
“The meeting focused on the appended file of the single Arab contracting contract blueprint which deals with contracting,” Al-Fawzan told KUNA.
“The file will be tabled to the coming meeting of the executive office of the Council of Arab Ministers of Housing and Construction, due on Wednesday,” he pointed out.
“If approved by the executive office, the file will be tabled to the Arab Summit on Socio-Economic Development, due in Kuwait in January, 2009, for final endorsement.
“The meeting approved the formation of a five-party panel on phraseology consisting of Kuwait, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the UAE to finalize the appended dossier of the blueprint,” he disclosed.
“The blueprint constitutes the cornerstone of Arab joint action in the field of economic development as it will help Arab contractors launch construction projects in the Arab countries according to unified standards of specifications.
“It will also protect the rights of all concerned parties in the construction process,” he noted.
For his part, Vice Director of the Arab League Department on Housing and Sustainable Development Jamal Jaballah said Saturday meeting of the League Committee on Housing and Construction was in line with the recommendations of the last meeting of the council Arab ministers of housing and construction.
“Chapter 12 and Chapter 14 of the blueprint call for working out an appendix for the project with a view to facilitating the operations of Arab contracting companies in various Arab countries,” he underscored.
“The project will ensure more freedom for the Arab contracting industry and facilitate exchange of experience among the Arab ministries of housing and construction and the Arab contracting companies.
“In its last meeting the council Arab ministers of housing and construction adopted six topics to be referred to the Arab economic summit including, the improvement of slums, the low-price popular housing, and promotion of investment in real estate sector in the Arab countries, and the Arab center for protection against natural disasters,” Jaballah recalled.