Arab League uses conference hall renovated by UAE for first time

Bloc's chief hails 'wonderful style' of the $50m project

Arab Foreign Ministers take part in their 153rd annual session at the Arab League headquarters in the Egyptian capital Cairo, on March 4, 2020.  / AFP / Mohamed el-Shahed
Powered by automated translation

An Arab foreign ministers’ meeting in Cairo on Wednesday marked the first time that the Arab league’s main conference hall was used following a $50 million renovation sponsored by the United Arab Emirates.

Arab League officials said the renovation team, led by Lebanese designer Nada Debs, was seconded from the UAE’s Ministry of Presidential affairs. The UAE team was supported by engineers from the Arab League organisation.

epa08268942 United Arab Emirates Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Mohammed Gargash attends the Arab Foreign Ministers 153rd annual meeting at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo, Egypt, 04 March 2020. According to reports, the annual summit of Arab leaders that was scheduled for late March in Algeria was postponed over coronavirus concerns.  EPA/KHALED ELFIQI
Dr Anwar Gargash, the UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, aT a meeting in the renovated main hall of the bloc's headquarters in Cairo on March 4, 2020. EPA

The long overdue renovation of the storied conference hall at the Arab League’s downtown Cairo headquarters took nine months to complete. It includes the replacement of seats and flooring, as well as the upgrading of the audio and lighting systems and the television screens. The press gallery was almost completely replaced.

“It’s an outstanding project in all its details,” UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash tweeted on Wednesday.

Arab League chief Ahmed Aboul Gheit expressed his gratitude to the UAE for the renovation in his opening remarks at Wednesday’s ministerial meeting, saying it was a “generous contribution” and that the project was carried out in a “wonderful style”.

The building housing the Arab League headquarters has been in use since 1954. The 22-member bloc was founded in 1945 by seven nations.

The main conference hall at the Arab League headquarters before its renovation. AFP
The main conference hall at the Arab League headquarters before its renovation. AFP