JEDDAH: Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman has sent letters of invitation to Kuwait, Sudan, Comoros and Yemen to participate in the fourth Summit of Arab-South American States taking place next month in Riyadh, which is expected to focus on boosting political and economic cooperation.

The invitations to the summit, better known by its Portuguese and Spanish acronym ASPA, was sent to Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, Kuwait’s emir, Omar Bashir, Sudan’s president and Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, Yemen’s president.

ASPA is a mechanism for cooperation and policy coordination in multilateral forums between Arab and South American states. Brazil proposed its creation in 2003.

The aim is to ensure greater coordination between political leaders and civil society organizations in the Middle East North Africa region and South American countries.

ASPA’s cooperation involves actions organized through five sectoral committees for economics, science and technology, environment, and social and cultural affairs.

An extensive agenda has been established since the mechanism’s creation, in 2005, by means of seminars, workshops and ministerial meetings aimed at establishing cooperation agreements.