Egypt to Chair 21st Arab Ministerial Council for Tourism in Alexandria

By: Ali Abu-Dashish

CAIRO, Dec. 9 (SEE)- Egypt will preside over the 21st session of the Arab Ministerial Council for Tourism to held at the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport in Alexandria on December 10th Monday.

Minister Tourism Dr. Rania Al-Mashat will deliver the opening speech. She will also preside over the sessions of the Council, which includes 13 items, including activating the tourism information and statistics center in support of the Arab Strategy for Tourism and Sustainable Development 2030 in the tourism sector in the Arab region.

Prince Sultan bin Salman, Chairman of the National Commission for Tourism and National Heritage in Saudi Arabia, will present the proposed vision of the Kingdom on building partnerships among Arab countries in the field of cultural tourism.

The Council also will review the importance of business incubators for tourism projects in the presence of tourism ministers from Arab countries.

Al Mashat will participate in the joint meeting of the Ministers of Tourism and Culture of the Arab States scheduled to take place at the Bibliotheca Alexandria where the proposed vision will be discussed by the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage. The vision will be presented by His Royal Highness Prince Sultan Bin Salman.

The meeting will also review building effective partnerships among Arab countries in the field of cultural tourism and the adoption of tourism as a key engine for the definition of cultural heritage and a key pillar for its preservation and investment.

Dr. Ismail Abdel Ghaffar, President of the Arab Academy for Science and Technology, will participate in the opening session of the Council.

The Secretary-General of the League of Arab States Mr. Ahmed Aboul Gheit, Bibliotheca Alexandria Director Dr. Mostafa El-Feqi and a number of ministers of tourism and culture from the Arab States will participate in a joint meeting.

It is worth mentioning that the previous session of the Arab Ministerial Council for Tourism was chaired by the State of Palestine and was held at the headquarters of the General Secretariat of the League of Arab States in Cairo. It was moderated by the Palestinian Minister of Tourism Roula Meaiai.

The Executive Office of the Arab Ministerial Council for Tourism will hold its twenty-third regular session on Sunday at the headquarters of the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport in Alexandria under the chairmanship of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, with the participation of the heads of delegation of the member countries of Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia, Libya, Morocco, Bahrain and Iraq.

The Executive Committee will discuss the draft agenda of the 21st session of the Arab Ministerial Council for Tourism and prepare draft resolutions for the agenda items, which will include several important topics, namely the proposed vision to activate the joint work between the tourism and cultural sectors in the Arab countries.

On the sidelines of the conference, a ceremony will be held to honor Dr. Taleb Rifai, former Secretary General of the United Nations World Tourism Organization, and Mr. Amr Abdel Ghaffar, former Regional Director of the Middle East.