Arab FMs renew Aboul-Gheit's term as Arab League chief

CAIRO - Arab foreign ministers agreed on Wednesday to renew the Arab League (AL) Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul-Gheit's five-year term.

Egyptian state TV announced the Arab foreign ministers unanimously agreed to Egypt's request to renew Aboul-Gheit's mandate as the pan-Arab organization's secretary general for the second term, during the 155th ordinary session of the AL Council.

"The esteemed council honored me with its confidence ... and I would like to express my sincere gratitude for this assignment and honor," Aboul-Gheit said in his speech during the session.

The first term of the 78-year-old secretary-general will end this June. He once served as Egypt's foreign minister from July 2004 to March 2011.