The meeting of the council was opened by Egyptian Prime Minister Atef Obeid who highlighted the role of the event in the history of Russian-Arab trade and economic relations. The head of the cabinet stressed that the new organization would permit expanding the framework of partnership relations between Russian companies and companies of Arab states, and bringing the cooperation to the new level in accordance with the countries' capabilities.
Hasan Haddar, minister of maintenance and internal trade of Egypt enumerated particular areas of cooperation between Russia and Arabs having included into that list transportation services, exchange of technologies, in particular, creation of a joint computer network for entrepreneurs and investors, personnel training, agriculture, etc.
Vladimir Yevtushenkov, the head of the Russian part of the RAB Council and chairman of the Board of directors of AFK System stated that the Council would permit entrepreneurs to better know each other's capabilities, to deepen mutual understanding of businessmen and investors.
The opening ceremony was attended by Egyptian foreign minister Ahmed Maher, other representatives of the country's leadership, President of the Russian chamber of commerce Yevgeny Primakov, Russian and Arab entrepreneurs.
