Most Arab delegations arrived in Amman on Monday as consultations on the Iraq-Kuwait issue continued in a bid to try to iron out differences before the opening of the summit on Tuesday.

Till Monday night, 16 heads of state or government, or representatives out of the 22 Arab League members have arrived in Amman for the two-day summit, which was preceded by foreign ministerial preparatory meetings on Saturday and Sunday.

The leaders included Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, Sudanese President Omar Hassan Ahmed El-Bashir, Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, Lebanese President Emile Lahoud, Iraqi Vice Chairman of the ruling Revolution Command Council Izzat Ibrahim and Libyan leader Muammar Al-Qathafi.

U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan has also arrived to attend the summit as an observer.

The summit is expected to focus on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the prospects of the flagging Mideast peace process, the Iraq-Kuwait relations and inter-Arab economic integration.

The foreign ministers have hammered out an agenda and a draft final resolution for the summit. Diplomats said that the parties have reached consensus on all topics except for the issue of the Iraq-Kuwait relations, which has consumed most energy of the foreign ministers at their two-day meetings.

Iraq wanted the summit to help lift the sweeping U.N. sanctions, but Kuwait and its ally Saudi Arabia insisted, at the ministerial meetings, that Iraq apologize for its 1990 invasion of Kuwait, release Kuwaiti prisoners of war, return "stolen properties" during its occupation of Kuwait and promise no further attack on Kuwait, before any reconciliation with it.

Iraq has said that it has released all the Kuwaiti prisoners of war.

An informed Kuwaiti source said that discussions on the Iraq- Kuwait issue continued through Monday to seek "middle points" that would satisfy both sides and that the delegates were close to reaching agreements on four points: calling for respect of regional security and each country's sovereignty, urging the U.N. Security Council to lift the sanctions imposed on Iraq after its invasion of Kuwait, examining the issue of imprisoned and missing Kuwaitis and allowing the resumption of Iraqi commercial flights.

In a related development, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Palestinian leader Arafat will meet Tuesday on the sidelines of the summit to try to end years of cold relations due to policy differences toward Israel.

Arafat's ties with Syria soured after he signed the 1993 peace accords with Israel, which gave the Palestinians limited self-rule in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. But the bilateral relations have improved since Bashar became Syrian president after his father Hafez al-Assad died last June.

(Xinhua 03/27/2001)