The Economic and Social Council of the Arab League (ESC; ar, ,

DIN DIN or Din or din may refer to: People and language * Din (name), people with the name * Dīn, an Arabic word with three general senses: judgment, custom, and religion from which the name originates * Dinka language (ISO 639 code: din), spoken by ...

: , originally the Economic Council) is an institution of the

Arab League The Arab League ( ar, الجامعة العربية, ' ), formally the League of Arab States ( ar, جامعة الدول العربية, '), is a regional organization in the Arab world, which is located in Northern Africa, Western Africa, E ...

that co-ordinates its

economic integration Economic integration is the unification of economic policies between different states, through the partial or full abolition of tariff and non-tariff restrictions on trade. The trade-stimulation effects intended by means of economic integrati ...

.Osmańczyk 2003: 1290 The ESC was established as the ''Economic Council'' under the terms of the Joint Defence and Economic Co-operation Treaty (1950). and held its first meeting in 1953. In 1957, the ESC established the

Council of Arab Economic Unity The Council of Arab Economic Unity (CAEU) (Arabic: ) was founded by Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Mauritania, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tunisia, Syria, United Arab Emirates and Yemen on May 30, 1964, following an agreement in 1957 by ...

(CAEU) and, in February 1997, the ESC adopted the ''Agreement to Facilitate and Develop Trade Among Arab Countries'' (1981) in pursuit of the

Greater Arab Free Trade Area The Council of Arab Economic Unity (CAEU) (Arabic: ) was founded by Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Mauritania, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tunisia, Syria, United Arab Emirates and Yemen on May 30, 1964, following an agreement in 1957 by ...

(GAFTA).

History

The establishment of the ''Economic Council'' of the Arab League under the terms of the Joint Defence and Economic Co-operation Treaty (1950) was the fulfilment of the promise made in articles II and IV of the Arab League's

Charter A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the re ...

(1945), which required the establishment of a council to co-ordinate close co-operation of member-states in economic affairs. The ''Economic Council'' was renamed the ''Economic and Social Council'' in 1980.

Responsibilities

The ESC continues to administer the

and the

Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development The Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (AFESD) is a Kuwait-based pan-Arab development finance institution. All member-states of the Arab League are members of the AFESD. As of 2003, it held around US$7.3 billion in assets. The AFESD ...

, as well as supervising the

and other subsidiary

institutions Institutions are humanly devised structures of rules and norms that shape and constrain individual behavior. All definitions of institutions generally entail that there is a level of persistence and continuity. Laws, rules, social conventions a ...

Arab Economic and Social Development summits

The Arab Economic and Social Development summits ( ar, ) are summits of the Arab League, held at the

head of state A head of state (or chief of state) is the public persona who officially embodies a state Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representatitve of its international persona." in its unity and ...

level to address issues of economic and social development among member-states. The inaugural summit was held in 2009 in

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Ku ...

, and the second summit was held in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...

in 2011.

Background

On 29 March 2007, resolution 365, proposed by Egypt and Kuwait and calling for a summit to address exclusively the economic and social development issues facing the

Arab world The Arab world ( ar, اَلْعَالَمُ الْعَرَبِيُّ '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, refers to a vast group of countries, mainly located in Western A ...

, was passed at the

Arab League summit The Arab League ( ar, الجامعة العربية, ' ), formally the League of Arab States ( ar, جامعة الدول العربية, '), is a regional organization in the Arab world, which is located in Northern Africa, Western Africa, E ...

Riyadh Riyadh (, ar, الرياض, 'ar-Riyāḍ, lit.: 'The Gardens' Najdi pronunciation: ), formerly known as Hajr al-Yamamah, is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of the Riyadh Province and the centre of the ...

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the Ara ...

. In June 2007, the

secretary-general Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the organization. The term is derived ...

of the

convened an extraordinary session of the ESC, which had been tasked with organising the summit under the terms of resolution 365, and it was agreed that the responsibility of preparing for the first summit would fall to a preparatory committee, consisting of

Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

, the chair of the ESC for the time being, and the two member-states that had proposed resolution 365, Egypt and Kuwait. In October 2007, the secretary-general appointed Egyptian

ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or s ...

Mervat Tellawi the co-ordinator-general for the upcoming summit and established a management committee within the framework of the general secretariat of the Arab League, later renamed the ''Development Summit Management Committee'', that included the newly appointed co-ordinator-general, Mervat Tellawi, and various assistant secretaries-general of the Arab League. The summit was conceived as an opportunity to involve the

private sector The private sector is the part of the economy, sometimes referred to as the citizen sector, which is owned by private groups, usually as a means of establishment for profit or non profit, rather than being owned by the government. Employment The ...

, and preparatory meetings were held by the Development Summit Management Committee with, ''inter alia'', the Arab Banks Federation (November 2007), the General Union of Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture for Arab Countries (December 2007) and the Economic and Financial Affairs Committee of the Arab Parliament (May 2008). By the 2008 Arab League summit in

Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...

, Syria, advanced progress had been reported by the preparatory committee to the eighty-first session of the ESC, and having received an offer to host the summit from the

emir of Kuwait The Emir of the State of Kuwait is the monarch and head of state of Kuwait, the country's most powerful office. The emirs of Kuwait are members of the Al Sabah dynasty. Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah became the emir of Kuwait on 30 Sep ...

, US$2 million was approved by the Arab League for financing.

2009 summit

On 19–20 January 2009, the first Arab Economic and Social Development Summit was duly held in Kuwait. Coming almost immediately after the Gaza War, the Arab media praised the summit for its success in reconciling the

, and various resolutions were passed "in solidarity with Gaza". Among the other resolutions passed, there was a call for adopting necessary measures to establish an

Arab customs union The Arab Customs Union is a customs union announced at the Arab League's 2009 Arab Economic and Social Development Summit in Kuwait in order to achieve a functional customs union by 2015 and an Arab common market by 2020 and to increase inter-Ar ...

as of 2010, to be fully operational by 2015, to ultimately establish an Arab common market.

2011 summit

Leaving the 2009 summit,

Ahmed Nazif Ahmed Nazif ( ar, أحمد نظيف, ; born 8 July 1952) served as the Prime Minister of Egypt from 14 July 2004 to 29 January 2011, when his cabinet was dismissed by President Hosni Mubarak in light of a popular uprising that led to the Egyptian ...

, the former

Egyptian prime minister The prime minister of Egypt () is the head of the Egyptian government. A direct translation of the Arabic-language title is "Minister-President of Egypt" and "President of the Government". The Arabic title can also be translated as "President of ...

, announced that Egypt would hold the next summit in 2011. Among the issues to be discussed is the proposed ''Arab Plan of Action for Science and Technology'', adopted at the 2009 summit, the implementation of which is being led by

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international coope ...

and its Arab equivalent, the

Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization The Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO) is a Tunis-based institution of the Arab League, established in accordance with article 3 of the Arab Cultural Unity Charter by an announcement made in Cairo, Egypt, o ...

(ALECSO).

2013 summit

The 2013 summit was held in the Saudi capital city of

2019 summit

The 2019 summit was to be held in the Lebanese capital of

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

on 19–20 March 2019. The speaker of the

Parliament of Lebanon The Lebanese Parliament ( ar, مجلس النواب, translit=Majlis an-Nuwwab; french: Chambre des députés) is the national parliament of the Republic of Lebanon. There are 128 members elected to a four-year term in multi-member consti ...

Nabih Berri Nabih Berri ( ar, نبيه مصطفى بري, translit=Nabīh Muṣṭafā Barriyy, links=hh; born 28 January 1938) is a Lebanese Shia politician who has been serving as Speaker of the Parliament of Lebanon since 1992. He heads the Amal Moveme ...

called to invite

back to the summit, which has caused major turmoil in the

. The highly controversial summit has stirred tensions between

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Suda ...

and the Lebanese Amal movement, stemming from the disappearance of Mussa Sadr, the Amal Movement's founder, who vanished along with his companions on August 31, 1978, in Libya while on an official visit.

References

Bibliography

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Economic And Social Council (Arab League) Economy of the Arab League