JEDDAH — The Arab foreign ministers began on Wednesday their preparatory meeting ahead of Friday's 32nd Arab Summit in Jeddah.

The President of the 31st Arab Summit and Foreign Minister of Algeria Ahmad Atef delivered a speech to the meeting, which stressed the importance of banding together to face regional and international challenges.

Foreign Minister Prince Faisal Bin Farhan delivered a speech after taking over the Presidency of the 32nd Arab Summit, in which he hoped that the meeting, which includes the participation of Syria, would lead to further inter-Arab cooperation.

The Saudi minister affirmed that the Arab region was filled with human and natural resources that would enable countries to play a more crucial role in the international arena.

He expressed Saudi Arabia's keenness on bolstering security and development in the region via the upcoming Arab summit.

He welcomed the return of Syria to its seat at the Arab League.

On his part, Arab League Secretary General Ahmad Aboul-Gheit welcomed in his speech Syrian Foreign Minister Dr. Faisal Al-Mekdad, expressing hopes that the re-inclusion of the Syrian seat in the Arab League would lead to resolving the Syrian crisis.

Since the last Arab Summit in Algeria back in November, the Arab region had been in some serious alarming development, which led to the holding of two Arab summits within less than a year.

Aboul-Gheit touched on the developments in Syria, Yemen, and Libya in addition to the positive relations between Arab countries and nearby countries, noting that the negative impacts of external interferences required from the Arab world a strong unified stance.

On the situation in Palestine, the Arab League chief affirmed that the situation was near full explosion, blaming the Israeli occupying forces for escalating the situation the Middle East region.

The agenda of the Arab foreign ministers meeting would discuss the agenda of the upcoming summit within various domains including politics, economy, and others. — Agencies