Manama: Lebanese President Michel Sulaiman has become the first Arab leader to publicly announce that he would attend the Arab summit in Baghdad next month.
"I will take part in the summit and I can confirm that right now. I will attend. We are not isolated," the Lebanese leader told reporters.
The Lebanese confirmation was issued as Iraq planned to send five ministers to invite Arab League members to join the summit on March 29.
Iraqi reports said that the Hoshiyar Zebari, the foreign minister, Ali Yousuf Al Shokri, the planning minister, Saadoon Al Dailami, culture minister, Ahmad Naserdali, the industry minister, and Safa Al Deen Al Safi, the state minister for parliament, will be hand delivering the invitations to the Arab leaders.
Iraq insists that it is ready to host the summit and that it had the backing of the Arab League following reports by its technical and advance teams.
The summit will bring together the finance ministers on March 27, the foreign ministers on March 28 and the leaders on March 29.
Iraqi sources said that at least ten Arab leaders would be in Baghdad for the summit, a number that is higher than the figure of rulers who attended the summit in Damascus.
Iraqi diplomats said that March 29 would be an official holiday and that there would be no popular receptions for the delegations.
Baghdad would be car-free and people would not be allowed in certain areas, the diplomats said.
