The Arab League Foreign Ministers Council has agreed at an extraordinary session held this evening at the Arab League Headquarters under the chairmanship of Bahrain to appoint former Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abulghait as Arab League Secretary-General to succeed current Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby whose term of office will expire on the 30th of next June.

    Bahrain's Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa said in a speech he gave at the close of the extraordinary session that consultations on the issue of the Egyptian candidate were held among foreign ministers today and it was agreed that Abulghait is to be appointed as Arab League Secretary-General for a five-year term and asked Dr. Nabil Elaraby to continue his tenure until the expiry of his mission on June 30. They also thanked Elaraby for running the joint Arab action and the development of the joint Arab action and the upgrading the Arab League towards broader prospects and the realization of Arab Peoples' aspirations.

    For his part, HE the Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said "at the outset I would like to thank Dr. Nabil Elarabi for the effort he made during his term of office at the Arab League and I would also like to welcome the Arab Republic of Egypt election of one of its citizens for the post of the Secretary-General but also we liked that further consensus would have been reached on the person of the proposed Secretary-General, therefore there had been more consultation on this issue. 

    HE the Foreign Minister said out of our desire and keenness that the issue will not affect the joint Arab action, we will not hamper this consensus, despite the registration of our reservation on candidate, looking forward that the Secretary-General would carry out his mission and deal with all Arab countries to serve the joint Arab action and prove to us, through his work at the Arab League, that he is eligible for such consensus and therefore would remove the cause of the reservation.

Source : QNA