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The Union of Arab Chambers participated to the “Second Experts’ Committee Meeting” in order to prepare a draft Arab Charter for the Development of Small and Medium Enterprises Sector, which was held at the headquarters of the General Secretariat of the Arab League. The aim of the meeting was to complete the preparation of the draft and to prepare a sort of follow-up and evaluation mechanism, in light of the comments received from the Arab States and the Specialized Arab Organizations and Federations, including the observations made by the Union of Arab Chambers.
The opening ceremony was introduced by Dr. Thamer Al-Ani, Director of the Department of Economic Relations at the General Secretariat of the League of Arab States, Dr. Kareem Farouk Al-Shuwaikh, representative of Egypt who was elected to preside the meeting in addition to Mr. Bou Ghadiri Hisham, Algerian representative who acted as decision maker.
The meeting ended with the finalization of the draft Charter (annex) that will be submitted at the 102nd Session of the Economic and Social Council, in the headquarters of the Arab League during the period 2-6 September 2018. The meeting concluded on the adoption of the paragraph 8 of the Charter Implementation and Evaluation Mechanism, which states:
"The countries signing on the Charter shall bear the expenses of implementing the individual obligations of each state individually, while the implementation of the joint projects shall be financed by the contributions of the States concerned with the project, with the non-compliance of the States not concerned."
In addition to the text above, the Union of Arab Chambers requested a provision which could facilitate the mobility of small and medium enterprises owners between the Arab countries, and it was approved.