Arab foreign ministers failed to agree a formula to turn the Arab League into an organization that would have greater international clout and returned to "square one" yesterday, an official said. "The ministers went back to square one. They are trying to agree on a joint document for reform," said the Arab official who asked not to be named. Participants in the meetings in the Egyptian capital said Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Syria had tried late Monday to prepare a joint draft as the basis of discussions but had met reservations from some Gulf Arab and North African states. Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa had meanwhile drafted a document merging the proposals of seven countries during the talks that began on Monday. However, talks yesterday no longer focused on these two documents, but on all the Arab proposals. "There are no differences, but given the importance of the issue, there are numerous ideas and proposals and each country is presenting its own in complete freedom," Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher said.
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