Question:medium

In which city was the Arab Summit held in the last week of March 2012?

Show Hint

American troops had just left Iraq in December 2011, and the host country used the summit to show it was back in the Arab mainstream.
Updated On: Jul 17, 2026
  • Bagdad
  • Cairo
  • Beirut
  • Riyadh
Show Solution

The Correct Option is A

Solution and Explanation

Step 1: Place the event.
The Arab League brings together 22 member states across West Asia and North Africa. Its summit level meeting is the Arab Summit.
The one being asked about is the 23rd Arab League Summit, held on 29 March 2012.

Step 2: Use the politics of the moment to pin the city.
American forces finished pulling out of Iraq in December 2011.
Iraq wanted to show the region that it was stable and back in the Arab fold.
Hosting the summit was the way it did that, so Baghdad was the venue.
It was the first time Baghdad had hosted an Arab Summit since 1990, when Iraq's invasion of Kuwait cut it off from its neighbours.

Step 3: What happened there.
Security was extremely tight, with much of the capital shut down for the meeting.
Syria's seat was empty because its membership had been suspended in November 2011.
The summit's closing statement pressed for a halt to the bloodshed in Syria and backed the Annan peace plan.
Many Gulf leaders sent lower level delegates rather than attending themselves.

Step 4: Test the other cities.
Cairo houses the Arab League Secretariat permanently, so it is the standard wrong guess, but it was not the 2012 host.
Beirut's turn was 2002, the summit that produced the Arab Peace Initiative.
Riyadh hosted in 2007.

Final Answer:
Option (A), Baghdad, is correct.
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