Arab ministers discuss tourism

Members of the Arab Parliamentary Union meeting at Luxor, in Egypt, have been told by the Egyptian representative, Fathi Srur, that terrorism had no nation, and threatened the security of the whole world.

Mr Srur referred to the attack at the resort in November in which more than sixty people -- most of them tourists -- were killed by Islamic militants.

He called for joint Arab efforts to eradicate terrorism from the region.

A memorandum put to the meeting stressed that the terrorist activity occurring in some Arab countries and linked to Islam was in fact foreign to Islam.

At the same time, tourist ministers from eight Arab countries (Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Bahrain, Sudan, Libya, Lebanon and Yemen) gathered in Cairo for a two-day conference.

Representatives of several Arab countries pledged to begin sending tour groups to Egypt in the wake of the Luxor attack.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service