India invited as observer for Arab League summit

Updated at 12:28 pm

DUBAI: Peace with Israel will be top on the agenda of a two-day Arab League summit in Riyadh, which India will attend as an Observer.

India will be represented by Minister of State for External Affairs E Ahmed at the summit to which begins on Wednesday.

The last two summits were held in Algiers and Khartoum in 2005 and 2006 respectively.

India enjoys the Observer status in the Arab League. New Delhi's participation underlines the policy of enhancing the effectiveness of its relations with the Arab world.

Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf will also attend the summit as a special guest.

Twenty-one Arab foreign ministers met in Riyadh on Monday to prepare the final draft for the 19th summit, which will be chaired by Saudi Arabias King Abdullah.

According to Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa, the summit would discuss three main issues, security in Arab countries, the Arab proposal for resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and social and economic development in the Arab world.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal said there would be no amendments to the Arab peace proposal to solve the dispute between the Palestinians and Israelis, which includes a withdrawal of Israeli forces to pre-1967 boundaries and a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.

Moussa also said a report would be discussed at the summit to adopt a unified Arab stance on taking steps to rid the Middle East of weapons of mass destruction, as well as developing civilian nuclear power.