Suleiman Travels to Peru on Sunday to Head Arab Group at ASPA Summit

President Michel Suleiman travels to Peru on Sunday to head the Arab group that will participate in the third summit between South American nations and Arab countries.

First lady Wafaa and a large ministerial delegation accompanies Suleiman to the South American country for the summit that starts on Monday.

The first Summit of South American and Arab Countries, or ASPA, was held in 2005 in Brasilia, with the most recent hosted in Doha in March 2009.

The third meeting had originally been scheduled for February 13-16, 2011 -- just as Egypt's then-president Hosni Mubarak was facing a wave of protests that led to his downfall.

The forum brings together 22 Arab countries and 12 South American nations on the initiative of former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Participants include Jordan's King Abdullah II, Qatar's Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and the president of Tunisia Moncef Marzouki .

The presidents of Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Paraguay will also participate. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who is in a tight re-election race, will be absent, but his country will be represented by Venezuela's Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro.

Following the summit, Suleiman is scheduled to travel to Argentina and Uruguay for meetings with officials and the Lebanese community members there.