Monday 24 / March / 2025
Muscat: The Sultanate of Oman joins its Arab counterparts in celebrating the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Arab League, reaffirming its continued support to the organisation since joining in 1971.
Oman remains committed to fostering joint Arab action and strengthening the principles of Arab solidarity and regional stability to achieve the aspirations of the Arab nations for progress, development, and prosperity.
Abdullah bin Nasser Al-Rahbi, Oman's Ambassador to Egypt and its Permanent Representative to the Arab League, emphasised Oman's belief in the importance of the Arab League as a unifying framework for Arab states.
He highlighted Oman's dedication to supporting the League's role and enhancing its mechanisms to better address regional and international challenges.
Al-Rahbi stressed that Oman plays a pivotal role in various issues within the Arab League, whether political, economic, or cultural. Oman has consistently been a voice advocating dialogue and peaceful solutions, contributing to bridging differences between Arab nations on contentious issues. Its active participation in the League's committees reflects its commitment to advancing joint Arab work.
Al-Rahbi underlined that experiences have shown the importance of achieving consensus on policies and strategies that serve national interests without harming collective Arab interests, and vice versa.
Such consensus, he said, would undoubtedly be an effective tool for addressing current challenges, whether political or economic.
In an era of interconnected global challenges, he noted the need to update the Arab League's mechanisms both substantively and procedurally.
A committee is working on a document to develop the framework for joint Arab action, aiming to refine ideas and elevate the League's operations. Al-Rahbi emphasised the priority of integrating digital technologies to accelerate communication, cooperation, decision-making, and monitoring, particularly in economic and social domains.
He also advocated for adopting a mediation system to resolve disputes in a manner that upholds mutual interests, focusing on the concept of "consensus" and promoting executable ideas and initiatives without creating additional bureaucratic structures.
Al-Rahbi reaffirmed Oman's continued support for the Arab League, drawing inspiration from Oman's longstanding values of "balance and wisdom" that define its foreign policy.
Regarding economic integration, Sheikh Faisal bin Omar Al-Marhoon, Head of the Arab Affairs Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, underscored the importance of promoting joint economic projects such as the Greater Arab Free Trade Area, electrical connectivity, food security, and maritime and land transport. These strategic initiatives, he explained, would connect markets, facilitate investment exchanges, and foster comprehensive development and economic stability across member states.
They would also ease the movement of people, industries, and products while leveraging the complementary cultural and tourism resources of Arab countries.
Sheikh Faisal emphasised the adoption of diplomatic and economic initiatives to strengthen the region's significance in the global economy. The Arab region, he said, represents a significant human and geographical force that could be classified as a major economic bloc if its member states achieve integration.
On Oman's longstanding support for Arab solidarity, he highlighted the Sultanate's over 50 years of continuous participation in joint Arab action.
Oman has attended all Arab summits since the Algiers Summit in 1973, up to the recent extraordinary Arab Summit in Cairo in March 2025. Oman prioritises Arab unity in its foreign policy and views coordination and consultation among Arab countries as indispensable for achieving solidarity and addressing international changes and challenges.
This approach, he affirmed, is deeply rooted in Omani policy, as reflected in the speech of His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tarik on January 11, 2020, in which His Majesty declared: “On the Arab front, we will continue to support the Arab League, work with our brothers, the leaders of Arab countries, to achieve the goals of the Arab League, elevate the lives of our citizens, distance this region from conflicts and disputes, and work towards achieving economic integration that serves the aspirations of Arab nations.”
