Lebanese Trade Minister Stresses Importance of Arab Customs Union  

(MENAFN - Qatar News Agency) Lebanese Economy and Trade Minister Nicolas Nahas has deemed the establishment of the Arab Customs Union and the unified Arab trade zone as essential for the development of communities, underlining the need to consider various phases before initiating the final one to implement scenarios set out in this context.

The Lebanese Economy and Trade Minister, in a press statement on the sidelines of a ministerial meeting of the Economic and Social in preparation for the Arab summit, pointed to the existence of impediments to intra-Arab trade liberalization, adding that there are efforts being made to overcome them.

Nahas stressed on the need for compromise solutions to advance the expansion of intra-trade and create a unified Arab trade zone.

Asked about the role taken by the ministerial meeting in this regard, he said that the meeting will make recommendations and refer them to the leaders and that discussions on this issue will continue in the upcoming meetings of the Arab Economic Council.

He added that other topics included the development of small and medium industries, literacy and the development of agricultural areas, noting that the Arab summit will take note of the actions made by the specialized committees in this regard.

Nahas also confirmed that the Syrian crisis affected the economy of the entire region, particularly Lebanon, noting that the crisis has reduced heavily the number of Arab tourists coming to Lebanon, and had negative impacts on investment and trade in Lebanon.