Manama: The heads of the Iraqi political blocs will attend the opening session of the Arab summit in Baghdad later this month, an Iraqi lawmaker said.
“The opening session will be attended by Parliament Speaker Osama Al Nujaifi, all political leaders and all the heads of the political blocs,” Faleh Al Ziyadi, representing the National Coalition, said.
“However, the summit will be limited to Iraq’s president and prime minister and to the Arab delegations and there will be no presence for the political blocs at the sessions.
President Jalal Talabani will head the Arab summit and Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki will head the Iraqi delegation,” he said in remarks to a local news agency on Sunday.
Iraq is scheduled to host the Arab summit on March 29. It will be the third time that the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, will be the venue for an Arab summit after 1978 and 1990.
Iraqi officials said that they had sent out 21 invitations and that they expected 13 Arab leaders to attend the summit. Syrian President Bashar Al Assad was not invited after his country’s membership was suspended by the Arab League in November.
