EU-Arab Summit wraps up without condemning Iran

CAIRO

This week’s EU-Arab Summit wrapped up in Cairo without condemning Iran, despite the participation of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), all of whom frequently accuse Tehran of “meddling in their domestic affairs”.

At the summit’s conclusion on Monday, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said: "It is normal for our views [i.e., those of summit participants] to diverge at our first meeting at the summit level."

"What brings our two regions [Europe and the Arab world] together is much greater than what divides them," al-Sisi said in a closing address broadcast on state television.

A final joint statement issued on Monday evening, he added, “reflects the most vital strategic issues of interest to both sides”.

At the top of these issues, al-Sisi said, was the need to bolster Arab-European cooperation “with a view to confronting regional challenges”.

According to sources close to the event, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain the UAE had all wanted the final statement to include the usual references to alleged Iranian efforts to “interfere in Gulf affairs and destabilize the region”.

Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit was quoted as saying: "Saudi Arabia, the UAE Bahrain, in addition to Lebanon, all sent proposed wording [for the final statement]."

“But following dialogue with the European side, we decided to maintain the current formula,” he added.

The two-day summit began in the Egyptian resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh on Sunday. It was widely attended by European officials despite an uproar caused by the recent execution of nine young men by the Egyptian authorities.