On March 22nd, 1945, representatives from 7 Arab countries gathered in Cairo, capital of Egypt in response to the initiative of Egypt. The meeting adopted the Charter of the Arab League and the League of Arab States or Arab League was formed. Its main purpose was to strengthen the cooperative relations between the member states and coordinate their political activities.

The Arab League has altogether 22 members (1999). They are Algeria, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Egypt, Palestine, Bahrain, Djibouti, Qatar, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Somalia, Tunisia, Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Jordan and Comoros

Main Office:Secretary-general:

Amr Moussa (Egyptian)

Elected on May 16,2001 and serves a 5-year term


The Secretary General of Arab League is Dr. Ahmed Esmat Abdul-Maguid who was elected on May 15th, 1991 and continued with this post until today.

Organization of Arab League: (1) Council. As a supreme authority, it comprises representatives from all member states. Its regular sessions are held every March and September but extraordinary session or urgent session can be called anytime at the request of more than two member states. The regular session is presided over in turn by member states with the responsibility of discussing, drafting and supervising the implementation of relevant Arab common policies. Unanimous resolutions are binding upon all member states. With the development of relations between Arab States and the expansion of the scope of cooperation, special ministerial council were established one after another and replaced step by step the related committees under the management of the Council. At present there are 10 special ministerial councils which include Information, Internal Affairs, Justice, Housing, Transportation, Social Affairs, Youth and Sports, Health, Environmental Affairs and Communication. (2) Joint Defence council. Established in accordance with the "Treaty of Joint Defence and Economic Cooperation", the council in made up of by Foreign and Defence Ministers of Member States. It is committed to coordinating defence plans of the member states and developing cooperation of its military capabilities. (3) Social and Economic Council. It is comprised of related ministers and their representatives. It works to attain the objectives made by the LAS in the social and economic fields. It has the sight to set up on demolish any special organization. It has 17 special organizations and bodies under it. (4) Secretariat. It is the permanent administrative organization and the executive organization of both the Council and the special ministerial councils. It is made up of One Secretary who is assisted by a committee formed by deputy secretaries and advisors to the Secretary. (5) Summit. It is the supreme authority and was first held in 1964 with the main purpose of discussing important regional issues. Special summit or urgent summit could be convened at the request of member states. From 21 to 22, Oct, 2000, a special summit meeting of the Arab States was held in Cairo. It decided that a regular meeting of the summit of the Arab States would be held every year.

The Arab League has representative offices or information centers in many countries.

Major Events

The Arab League has held 14 regular summits and 10 extraordinary summits since it was established. By September 2002, the Ministers Council of the AL has held 118 sessions and many other extraordinary or emergency meetings.