The third meeting of the Russian-Arab Business Council was held under the patronage of Emile Lahoud, the Lebanese President, who received the heads of the Russian delegation.
The following Russian delegation officials arrived to take part in the session: Ye.M. Primakov, the President of the Russian Federation Chamber of Commerce and Industry, T.A. Gvilava, the RABC Director, A.A. Aslakhanov, the Advisor to the President of the Russian Federation, T.V. Paramonova, the First Deputy Chairman of the Bank of Russia, D.A. Pumpyansky, the General Director of OJSC «Pipe Metallurgical Company», A.D. Pilyarov, the General Director of the Small Business Support Fund of the Karachay-Cherkess Republic, L.V. Bokhanovsky, the First Vice President of OJSC «Stroytransgaz», the representatives of companies «TMK», «Sinara Trading», «Sovintervod», «Autoexport», «MBRR», «CBOSS», «Vnesheconombank», «Itera», «SoyuzNefteGaz», «Tatneft», «Kamov-Holding», the Volgograd region delegation, the representatives of business circles, ministries, and departments.
The Arab delegation was headed by Adnan Cassar, the Minister of Economy and Trade of Lebanon, the Chairman of the Arab Department of the RABC. The following Arab officials took part in the session: Khaled Abu Ismail, the President of the Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce, Abdullah Gandour, the Deputy Chairman of the Federation of Lebanon Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Ilyas Gantus, the Secretary General of the General Union of Arab Chambers, Abdurrahman Ali Al-Jureisi, the Chairman of the Directors Board of the Federation of the Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Saudi Arabia, Ratib Shallah, the President of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce of Syria, Jaques Sharraf, the Chairman of the "Malia" Group of Companies, the Co-Chairman of Lebanon-Russia Business Council, the Honorary Consul of Russia in Lebanon, Mohammed Abdu Said, the Chairman of the Federation of Yemen's Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the leaders and representatives of major Arab companies, including «Al-Migna Auto», «Al-Qahtani», «Nesco», «AlBabtyn», «Nahas», «Nakhas», «Fransabank», etc.
The issues of expanding business cooperation and strengthening trade and economic relations between Russia and the Arab countries were considered during the plenary session. In particular, the Arab participants confirmed the performance efficiency of the formed bilateral councils (by this time such councils had already been established with Egypt, Lebanon, and Syria) and sent to the RABC a list of countries, with which it would be sensible to form councils in a short time.
Ye.M. Primakov noted in his speech that Russia's special interest in developing its economic ties with the Arab world. First of all, because there existed the complementarity of our economies.
The Russian delegation also visited Syria after the completion of the Session business program. There Ye.M. Primakov and accompanying him business community representatives met with the President of Syria - Bashar Asad, the Prime Minister of Syria - Mohammed Naji Autry, the Foreign Minister of Syria - Farouk al-Sharaa, and took part in the business forum.
The Russian delegation held meetings and negotiations in Jordan, where the agreement on establishment of the Russian-Jordanian Business Council had been initialised.