The decision to establish the General Union of Chambers of Commerce, Industry & Agriculture of the Arab Countries was taken during the first conference held at Alexandria Chamber on May 8, 1951; whereas the Statute of the Union was delivered during the second conference held in Beirut on December 16, 1951 when the announcement of the foundation of the Union took place and which since then has been taking Beirut as the residence of its General Secretariat.
The Union is an independent non-governmental, non-profit regional legal entity, where its name was modified to be “Union of Arab Chambers” (UAC) at the 120th Session of the Union’s Council happened in Muscat, Sultanate of Oman on March 26, 2016.
The awareness of the Arab Businessmen for the importance of the regional cooperation as a tool to advance the Arab Economic Development was the main motive behind the foundation of this Union so, the Union was the first Arab Economic Institution to work at the non-governmental level in order to promote the idea of economic cooperation and integration among the Arab Countries.
The Union has played an important role in the process of promoting the trade cooperation between the Arab Countries at the levels of commerce and investment. The Union was always the first to call for the foundation of the Common Arab Market and developing the general principles that should be implemented in order to achieve Economic Unity between the Arab Countries.
