BUSINESS

Six Arab leaders due at LatAm summit, not Mubarak

Six Arab national leaders are expected to attend the Summit of South American and Arab Countries to be held February 13-16 in Lima, but Egypt's Hosni Mubarak is not among them, Peruvian Foreign Minister Jose Garcia Belaunde said Friday.

February 4, 2011

LIMA, Feb 04, 2011 (AFP) - Six Arab national leaders are expected to attend the Summit of South American and Arab Countries to be held February 13-16 in Lima, but Egypt's Hosni Mubarak is not among them, Peruvian Foreign Minister Jose Garcia Belaunde said Friday.

The Peruvian official said that Mubarak had indicated well before protests erupted in his country that he would not attend due to "illness" and that he would send a delegate in his place.

Garcia Belaunde included among the six leaders Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas -- who heads a territory recognized as a state by several countries in Latin America.

The others who have confirmed their attendance are Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Jordan's King Abdullah II, Qatar's Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, and Morocco's King Mohammed VI.

The forum brings together 22 Arab countries and 12 South American nations on the initiative of former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

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