Khaberni - The Council of the Arab League, at the ministerial level, unanimously approved the nomination of the former Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy for the position of Secretary-General of the League, succeeding the current Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit, with the recommendation being raised to the next Arab Summit scheduled in Saudi Arabia for adoption.
This came during the activities of the 165th ordinary session of the League's Council at the ministerial level, which was held virtually under the presidency of Bahrain, to discuss the rapid regional developments and recent attacks that affected several Arab countries, according to a statement from the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The statement clarified that the Council approved Fahmy's nomination to hold the position for a term of 5 years, starting from the beginning of July next year, without providing additional details regarding the accreditation procedures.
The term of Ahmed Aboul Gheit is scheduled to end on June 30 of the next year, noting that he was elected to the position on March 10, 2016, and his term was renewed for a second period on March 3, 2021.
In his statement, Fahmy (75 years old) described the consensus on his nomination as a "great responsibility," considering "the unprecedented challenges our nation faces, and the blatant violations of international law by aggressive parties deceitfully attacking our countries and our safety."
He added that there are other countries "whose occupation of our lands impedes our brothers from exercising their legitimate rights, in addition to our region being targeted by plots aiming for domination, and undermining the security and stability of the Arab world."
However, Fahmy did not explicitly mention Israel or Iran in his statement, thus continuing the approach of his predecessor.
Nabil Fahmy held the position of Egyptian Foreign Minister between June 2013 and July 2014, and served as Egypt's ambassador to the United States during the period between 1999 and 2008, and to Japan from 1997 to 1999.
It should be noted that the Secretary-General of the Arab League - founded in Egypt in 1945 - is appointed by a decision of the League's Council with a two-thirds majority of the member states, totaling 22 countries, according to Article 12 of its charter, without specifying a limit to the number of renewals.
However, it has been customary that the term of office shall not exceed two periods, and that the Secretary-General should come from the host country, with the exception of the period when the headquarters was moved to Tunisia in 1979 following Egypt's signing of the peace treaty with Israel, when Chedli Klibi, the Tunisian Minister of Culture and Information then, was chosen as the Secretary-General representing the temporary host country, before the headquarters returned to Cairo again in 1990.
