Qatar’s Assistant Foreign Minister for Follow-Up Affairs, Mohammed Abdulla M. Al-Rumaihi on Friday  paid a courtesy call on President Bharrat Jagdeo and invited him to attend a summit in Doha.

Minister Al-Rumaihi after holding talks with President Jagdeo at State House said the meeting was to discuss relations between South American and Arab countries, the Government Information Agency (GINA) reported.

“My main mission here is to invite His Excellency to come to Doha on the Summit that we will have in Doha between Heads of Arab states and Heads of South American states on March 31,” Minister Al-Rumaihi was quoted as saying.

The minister said further that the Summit will show how the two regions are related. “I believe that it is a very important opportunity to create a climate of cooperation at the political and economic level.”

Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce, Manniram Prashad was also at Friday’s  meeting.

The Summit is a mechanism that has been established between the two regions to promote better collaboration and cooperation in a number of areas such as deepening dialogue in the matters of interest and concerns on the international agenda; fostering economic cooperation; development of South-South cooperation; promoting tourism, trade and investment and in the cultural sphere to sensitise the two regions on each other’s diverse culture, GINA reported.

Recently, the president visited the region where he met officials in Libya and Greece. He was to continue to Qatar but due to the unrest in nearby Gaza he had to cut short his visit.