Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Al-Siniora inaugurated here today Arab Economic Forum in its 17th session. The inaugural ceremony was attended by Saudi Minister of Commerce and Industry Abdullah bin Ahmad Zainal Ali Reza and Saudi Chargé d'affaires to Lebanon Adel bin Abdulrahman Bakhash. Addressing the session, Ali Reza expressed the Kingdom's readiness to help ease the international financial crisis. The minister said that "This crisis has shown how vulnerable auditing institutions are," adding that such failures have had a strong impact on emerging and developing economies across the world. On addressing the crisis in the Mideast, he stressed that "If this crisis is to be confronted, it has to come through a number of measures", including among other things, increasing trade and investment among Arab states as well as pumping more money into Arab and Islamic financial institutions. He also called for reconsidering Arab financial regulations and laws where necessary amendments should be put into action.
