Qatar's emir has taken part in a regional economic summit in Lebanon amid sharp divisions in the country and among neighbouring Arab nations.
Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani arrived in Beirut on Sunday and left after attending the opening session of the Arab Economic and Social Development Summit (AESD), Lebanese state media reported.
Sheikh Tamim and the President of Mauritania Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz were the only heads of state from the 22-member Arab League who attended the summit.
They were joined by representatives including Jordanian Prime Minister Omar Razzaz, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and Saudi Finance Minister Mohammed al-Jadaan.
The meet has been marred by divisions over re-admitting Syria to the Arab League.
Syria, whose membership was suspended by the Arab League in 2012 over the brutal crackdown on protests, was not invited despite demands by allies of Damascus in Lebanon.
Qatar has been one of the main backers of Syrian rebels trying to overthrow Syrian President Bashar Assad.
The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain have recently reopened their embassies in Damascus.
Meanwhile, Libya abstained from attending the summit after it came under attack over the unresolved mystery surrounding the disappearance of a Lebanese Shia cleric in Libya decades ago.
Lebanon had hoped the summit would boost its sinking economic credentials.
The AESD was formed in 2009 as an exclusively economic and development conference that tends to involve the private sector, including banks, chambers of commerce, industry and agriculture.
The agenda does not include the reconstruction of Syria, much of it ruined in nearly eight years of civil war.
The New Arab
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