India Arab League to form joint cooperation forum

New Delhi, Dec 2 : India and Arab league on Tuesday signed a memorandum of cooperation to set up Arab-India Cooperation Forum, which will act as a joint mechanism to boost mutual cooperation.

Amre Moussa, Secretary General of the Arab League who is on a three-day visit to India, signed the memorandum of cooperation with Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee in New Delhi.

"Today the Secretary General and I have signed a memorandum of cooperation on the establishment of the India Arab Cooperation Forum. It is our common intention to make this forum a vehicle for cooperative diverse set of activities that could also cover the areas of trade and investment, energy cooperation, human resource development, cultural cooperation as well as cooperation in the field of information communication and technology," Mukherjee told reporters today after signing the agreement.

Moussa said he has taken all steps to expedite the process of establishment of the cooperation forum. He said that the agreement which has been signed was approved by the authorities of both sides, and immediate action would be taken to implement it.

Secretary General of 22-nation body, Moussa has been pushing for bilateral cooperation in various fields. He met Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh earlier in the day.

The Arab world is a major source of energy for India and the fuel-rich Arab countries like UAE, Oman are most sought after destination by the Indians.

Indian workers are employed in various capacities in Arab countries.

ANI