Arab leaders meet in city of prosperity for ensuring peace

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 By Abul Kalam Azad

DHAHRAN, Saudi Arabia, April 15, 2018 (BSS) – It was a historic moment for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia when an American company struck the first oil well here on the soil of the Kingdom over 80 years ago.

The discovery was the core of the enormous social and economic development that the world saw in the past eight decades in Saudi Arabia. The huge oil reserve, which was eventually explored after the discovery in Dhahran in between 1935, also drove this Arab state to a new height at the global platform besides giving it the dominating power among oil producing countries.

Since then, Dhahran has been remembered and valued as a city of prosperity; and the first oil well, discovered there, has become famous as the “Well of Prosperity”. The city, which is located in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia and forms part of the Dammam Metropolitan Area, has witnessed many political and economic events in the history of the Kingdom.

This year the city of the Well of Prosperity has got further significance as the leaders of 22 Arab nations are gathering there for finding effective ways of ensuring peace and prosperity of the Arab world.

Dhahran, the city of first oil discovery in Saudi Arabia and home to the Kingdom’s official oil company Aramco, is hosting the 29th Arab League Summit at the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture, commonly known as “Ithra”. The center, an initiative of Aramco, is located near the Well of Prosperity.

Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud opened the Sunday’s summit, which the Kingdom is hosting for the 3rd time, as the Kingdom organised the first summit on its soil in 1976 and the second one in 2007.

At the concluding session of the 29th summit, the Arab leaders are likely to seek support from the Arab states and international communities to find a solution to the conflicts and instability in Arabian countries.

The Ministry of Culture and Information of the Kingdom has set up two media centers to help journalists to cover the Summit. A total of 618 journalists from international news papers and news agencies arrived in Dhahran to cover the flagship event of the Arab nations.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is also visiting Saudi Arabia to join a joint grand military exercise named ‘Gulf Shield-1’ in the Eastern Province of Al- Jubail scheduled for tomorrow.

The Prime Minister is attending the ceremony at the invitation of Saudi King and the custodian of the two holy mosques Salman Bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud.

Saudi Arabia has organised the month-long military exercise aimed at further increasing security cooperation in the gulf region with the participation of its 23 friendly countries. An 18-member delegation of Bangladesh Armed Forces is participating in the exercise that began on March 18.

Other countries participating in the military drill are the USA, the UK, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Egypt, Jordan, Sudan, Mauritania, Malaysia, Pakistan, Chad, Djibouti, Niger, Comoros, Afghanistan, Oman, Guyana, Turkey, and Burkina Faso.

After attending the concluding ceremony of the Gulf Shield-1, the prime minister will leave Dammam for London to join the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) Summit.