The preparatory meeting was held ahead of next week’s summit of heads of Arab states LONDON: The Arab League is seeking a new start for joint Arab action and global developments should not affect the pursuit of solving Arab issues, said Algerian Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra on Saturday. His comments came during an Arab Ministerial Council meeting in Algeria, where Lamamra took over the rotating presidency of the 31st Arab Summit from his Tunisian counterpart Othman Al-Jarandi. Lamamra said that “the crisis in Ukraine creates a difficult reality that calls for joint Arab action,” adding that “we must push toward paths of peace to resolve crises in our Arab countries.” He stressed the need to uphold the principles of good neighborliness and respect for the sovereignty and independence of states, and called for investing in the huge opportunities available to achieve Arab integration. Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit said that the Arab Summit is the most important mechanism for joint Arab action, and stressed that the Algiers summit seeks to develop a plan for joint action in the next stage. Algeria officially took over the rotating presidency of the Arab Summit on Wednesday. The Arab foreign ministers will meet over two days to adopt the draft agenda and consider and approve draft resolutions, while a consultative session will be held on Sunday. Saudi Arabia’s delegation was headed Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Waleed Al-Khuraiji on behalf of Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, and also included the Kingdom’s ambassador to Algeria, Abdullah Al-Busairi, and the permanent representative to the Arab League Abdulrahman Al-Jumah. Meanwhile, Lamamra held talks with Al-Khuraiji, on the sidelines of their participation in the foreign ministers’ preparatory meeting for the summit, where they discussed bilateral relations and ways of enhancing them and reviewed the most prominent regional and international developments.