Speech of His Majesty King Abdullah II To the Closing Session of the Arab Summit
In the Name of God, the Most Merciful, the Compassionate,
Your Excellencies, Your Highnesses,
Praise be to God for His blessing and support, which allowed us to convene this summit and complete its work. We hope this summit will be a new beginning and a fundamental positive change in joint Arab action. We hope it will lead to greater coordination and unity in the positions of the nation towards its just causes and, God willing, its bright future. We hope it will be a new beginning in which the ambitions and aspirations of our people for unity, solidarity and complementarity will be fulfilled.
With this summit, we have established a permanent procedure and a new, clear approach to joint Arab action. This approach is the convening of the summit on an annual basis, regardless of any differences that might develop among the brethren and any circumstances that might otherwise hamper our meeting. This, on its own, is a promising achievement that strengthens our confidence in the future.
Allow me on behalf of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan to express our pride in having had the honour of hosting this summit, and in having you among us, you the leaders of the nation and the hope for realising its objectives. Allow me to thank you all for having accepted our invitation. I thank you for having enriched this summit with your wisdom and your sound opinions, and the farsightedness you have shown in openly and frankly addressing the causes of the nation, with serious consideration for the higher Arab interests. I thank you for your spirit of brotherhood and sense of historic responsibility towards our peoples, who look to us with confidence and hope.
On behalf of all of you, I would like to express our great appreciation to His Excellency Dr Ahmed Esmat Abdul Maguid, the secretary general of the League of Arab States. I would also like to express our appreciation to their excellencies the foreign ministers and ministers of economics, to all pan-Arab organisations and to all those who contributed to the success of this summit.
On behalf of all of you, I express our gratitude and appreciation to Dr Ahmed Esmat Abdul Maguid for the tremendous efforts he has exerted as secretary general of the League. I also offer our congratulations to His Excellency Mr Amr Musa, the new secretary general, and wish him all success.
In conclusion, I pray to our Protector to bless our efforts and guide us to what is in the best interest of our Nation and to the path of progress and prosperity for our peoples.
Peace, God's mercy and his blessings be upon you.
