1

The Council of the Union of Arab Chambers, chaired by its President, Mohamed Abdo Saeed, held its 128th meeting in Cairo, Egypt, in presence of H.E. Amr Nassar, Egypt’s Minister of Trade & Industry - on behalf of Dr. Mostafa Madbouly, its Prime Minister, - Dr. Kamal Hassan Ali, Assistant Secretary General for Economic Affairs at the League of Arab States, and Ahmad Al-Wakil, President of the Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce. The meeting was also attended by heads of federations and delegations from 17 Arab countries.
Dr. Khaled Hanafy, Secretary General of the Union, testified that the session revolved around a number of issues including the establishment of a Unified Arab Certificate of Origin for Commodity Exports, the notion related to standardization of products and inspection procedures and industrial integration for enhancing intra-Arab trade and exports.
He also raised the topic on the digital transformation of the Arab trade and Economy presenting the ambitious vision of the Arab Electronic Market. Other topics were discussed, among which the preparations of the Union of Chambers for the Arab Food Security Conference, which will be held in Fujairah in mid-November, and the Forum of the Arab private sector, which will be held at the headquarters of the Union in Beirut, coinciding with the Arab Economic and Social Development Summit in early January in the presence of senior Arab leaders.
In turn, H.E. Amr Nassar, Minister of Trade and Industry, praised the efforts of the Union of Arab Chambers on standardizing the technical specifications of goods and services, stressing, "The private sector is the development engine, thus the importance of partnering with it”, adding, " The role of the Government is to create an investment climate that helps to work freely.”
In addition, Ahmed Al-Wakil, President of the Federation of Egypt’s Chambers of Commerce, stressed on the importance of facilitating the transition process for employers in the Arab countries and on solving the visas and traffic problems in order to facilitate business management.
During the meeting, the Executive Committee of the Union of Arab Chambers was elected from seven countries: Egypt, Lebanon, Yemen, Jordan, Bahrain, UAE, and Algeria. The Secretary Generals from the Arab-British, Belgian and Luxembourg Chambers were also elected beside discussing the situation of the Arab-Indian & the Arab-Italian Chambers of Commerce.

Source: (Union of Arab Chambers)