Preparatory meeting for Sanaa group’s summit starts in Khartoum

KHARTOUM, Dec 26, 2004 (Xinhua) — A meeting of foreign ministers from the Sanaa group countries which includes Sudan, Yemen and Ethiopia started here Sunday in preparation for the group’s summit due to be held in Khartoum on Monday.

Yemeni Foreign Minister Abu Bakar al-Kurbi. (AFP).

Director of Bilateral Relations at the Sudanese Foreign Ministry Abu Zeid el-Hassan said the ministerial meeting would discuss regional issues that concern the group, especially the peace issue in Sudan and Somalia as well as coordinating cooperation among the member states in different fields.

He added that the meeting would also raise its recommendations concerning these issues to the summit to be discussed and ratified.

Yemeni Foreign Minister Abu Bakar al-Kurbi arrived in Sudan’s capital Khartoum on Saturday and Ethiopian Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin arrived here Sunday morning.

The two-day summit of the Sanaa tripartite group will kick off here on Monday, which will gather leaders from Sudan, Yemen and Ethiopia as well as delegates from Somalia and Djibuti as observers.

The summit is scheduled to focus on means of enhancing political, economic and cultural relations for the welfare of the three member countries as well as supporting peace, security and stability across the Horn of Africa and the south of the Red Sea.

In October 2002, Sudan, Yemen and Ethiopia launched their first summit in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa. The second three-party summit was held in December 2003 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia where presidents of the three countries signed an agreement for establishing “the Sanaa grouping for cooperation.”