Arab leaders on Wednesday kicked off the 19th Arab League summit in the Saudi capital of Riyadh, with Arab peace initiative, Middle East security, the Iraq issue high on the agenda.

The conference, which started at 1:20 p.m. (1020 GMT) at Abdulaziz International Conference Center, brought together 17 heads of state of the 22-member pan-Arab bloc.

The opening session started with the speech by Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, the chairman of the 18th Arab summit in Khartoum.

Hailing the formation of a Palestinian national unity government, al-Bashir called for united efforts to lift "the unfair siege imposed on the Palestinians."

He also urged the Arab countries to fulfill their commitment of supporting the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) in line with the decisions adopted at 2006 Khartoum summit.

"I had sent messages to the Arab leaders to take appropriate measures for honoring their commitment as regards supporting the budget of the PNA," al-Bashir said.

Concerning the Lebanese political crisis, the Sudanese president expressed hope that the summit will recommend the resumption of efforts to reach a solution which keeps Lebanon away from woes of sedition, and maintain its security and stability.

No Libyan representative presented in the meeting. Libyan Foreign Minister Abdel-Rahman Shalqam said earlier this month that his country would not attend the summit, protesting its relocation from Sharm el-Sheikh, Egyptian Rea Sea resort on Sinai peninsular, to Riyadh.

Among the international guests invited to attend the summit are UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, EU foreign policy chief Javier

Solana, African Union chief Alfa Omer Konary and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.

China's representative to the Cairo-based Arab League and Ambassador to Egypt Wu Sike also attended the meeting.

The summit would provide a good opportunity to the Arab leaders to take a unified stand for facing the regional challenges, host

Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal told a press conference here Monday.

"The message we want to send to the Arab summit is to say that Arab entity is in a good condition, and our leaders are capable of gathering to seriously discuss issues of mutual interest," said al- Faisal.

Source: Xinhua