Nasser Beydoun, head of the American-Arab Chamber of Commerce, returned from last week's Beirut Summit with a pledge that a three-day international Arab economic conference will be held in Detroit in April 2003.
Sponsored by the Arab League, the global conference will feature business and governmental leaders from all 23 Arab nations to discuss international trade and economic revitalization of the region. Ambassadors, economic ministers, heads of the chambers of commerce and business executives are the targeted audience for the conference, according to a press release.
Beydoun said, "The Arab American business community and our friends in the large corporate community demonstrated to Secretary-General Amre Moussa and the four ambassadors who accompanied him last November for the Arab Economic Summit that Detroit is a perfect venue to host such a unique conference. The Detroit area is home to the largest concentration of people of Middle Eastern descent.”
"With the killing and devastation the Arab region continues to experience, the economies of those nations are in shambles. As a business organization, we recognize the benefits trade can bring to the people. It certainly can't hurt our American-based businesses that establish business ties in those countries."
"It's up to all Arab Americans to portray the image of peacemaker, which, unfortunately, is not the image most Americans have of Arab people these days," Beydoun said. "A just peace is what all people of good will must work toward. Our country must also develop a balanced posture toward both parties in the conflict if it is to be viewed as supporting peace." — (menareport.com)
© 2002 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
