2018 Arab League summit

The 2018 Arab League Summit (also known as the Dhahran Summit or Dammam Summit or Jerusalem summit)^[3] was the Arab League's 29th summit held in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia on Sunday, 15 April 2018. The Summit was initially expected to be held in Riyadh.^[4][5] A preparatory meeting was held in Riyadh on Thursday, 12 April 2018 which was presided over by the Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir.^[2][6] Foreign Ministers of the 22 countries attended the meeting.^[7]

The Arab League's 29th summit Dhahran Summit
Host country	Saudi Arabia
Date	15 April 2018[1][2]
Cities	Dhahran, Eastern Province[1]
Venues	King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture[1]
Follows	2017
Precedes	2019

Attendance

Arab League representatives

•  Djibouti - Ismail Omar Guelleh
•  Egypt - President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi^[8]
•  Iraq - President Fuad Masum^[9]
•  Lebanon - President Michel Aoun^[10]
•  Mauritania - Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz^[9]
•  Morocco - King Mohammed VI^[5]
•  Palestine - Mahmoud Abbas
•  Saudi Arabia - King Salman
•  Somalia - Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed^[9]
•  Sudan - President Omar al-Bashir^[11]
•  Tunisia - Beji Caid Essebsi^[9]
•  Yemen - Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi ^[9]

Other participants

• African Union Commission - Chairman of the African Union Commission Moussa Faki
•  European Union - High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini
•  United Nations - Secretary-General António Guterres

Venue

The summit was announced to be held at the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture which was constructed by Saudi Aramco and was opened in 2016.^[1]

Security Measures

As a security measure a number of roads were closed for traffic in the Dammam-Dhahran-Khobar region.^[12] It was also declared that all educational institutions would remain closed on Sunday.^[13]

Invitation to Qatar

Despite the blockade imposed on Qatar by Saudi Arabia and a number of other countries, an official invitation was sent to Qatar to attend the Summit.^[12] The Foreign Ministry of Qatar issued a statement that Qatar had accepted the invitation and would be attending the Summit.^[14] The Saudi Foreign Minister al-Jubeir announced that the Qatar diplomatic crisis would not be discussed at the Summit.^[15]