Agence France Presse
October 20, 2004

MADRID - Arab League General Secretary Amr Moussa has formally invited Spanish Foreign Minster Miguel Angel Moratinos to present its "alliance of civilisations" initiative against terrorism to the organisation, Moratinos told the Spanish Senate on Wednesday.

A foreign ministry spokesman said no date had been fixed but that Moratinos would respond positively to the request.
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero unveiled the idea last month at the United Nations in the belief that an "alliance of civilisations between the Western world and the Arab-Muslim world" would stem the rise of international terrorism.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan received the proposal enthusiastically and Moratinos said several European states and also the 22 Muslim states where Spain has diplomatic missions, particularly Iran, also favoured the proposal.

In a meeting with Spanish ambassadors last month in Madrid Moratinos said the Spanish government wanted to see a "strategic alliance" formed between Western and Arab states to help remove any "pretext to legitimacy" that Islamic militancy might claim.