'No plans to discuss inviting Syrian regime to upcoming Arab summit in Tunisia'

CAIRO (AA) – An Arab economic summit will be held in Lebanon this month as scheduled, the pan-Arab body confirmed on Saturday.

Beirut is scheduled to host the Economic and Social Development Summit on Jan. 19-20.

“Preparations are underway to hold the summit in Beirut,” Mahmoud Afifi, spokesman for the Cairo-based Arab League, said in statements.

He said the summit will be held for the first time in six years as the last meeting had been held in the Saudi capital Riyadh.

Afifi said the summit will discuss a host of economic, social and development issues.

For his part, Assistant Secretary-General Hossam Zaki said the Arab League has no plans to discuss inviting Syria to the annual Arab summit in Tunisia in March.

The Beirut summit will be held amid controversy in Lebanon with voices calling for postponing the meeting over a failure of Lebanese parties to form a new government.

The summit coincides with recent Arab steps to normalize relations with the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad.

Notably, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry on Tuesday urged Damascus to take steps to recover its seat at the Cairo-based Arab League.

Syria's league membership has been frozen since 2011, when the Assad regime launched a harsh crackdown on demonstrators, sparking eight years of civil war.