The Minister for Finance and Economic Planning Claver Gatete has called on Arab financing institutions to increase funding for regional development programmes to help foster integration and enable inter-state trade.Amb. Gatete was speaking Monday at the first ever Arab-Africa Economic forum in Kuwait City, Kuwait.  The two-day event precedes third Arab-Africa Summit slated for November 19-20.Dubbed "Beyond promises: Moving forward towards an effective Arab-Africa partnership,” the forum focused on development cooperation in infrastructure, transport and energy.  It also explored ways to increase investments and trade between Arab and African countries."Africa is ready to do business with the rest of the world. I urge Africa-Arab development institutions to devise new financing instruments to support Africa’s ambitious transformation programmes,” Amb. Gatete said.The forum explored opportunities in Africa and Arab regions that could trigger and promote partnership between African States and the Arab World. It focused primarily on how the private sector actors from Africa and Arab can forge sustainable partnerships with a view to enhancing trade and investment relations between the two sides. Exploring opportunitiesThe event featured national and regional project portfolios with regional investment and export trade opportunities that require international partnerships."We need to explore investment opportunities together with ways and means to enhance and promote development cooperation as well as facilitate trade among Arab and African countries,” Sheikh Salem Abdulaziz Al-Sabah, the Kuwaiti deputy prime minister and minister for finance, said.  The forum acquainted the private sector with the opportunities to expand public-private partnerships, investments and commercial activities in Arab and African countries. It attracted government leaders; representatives of the Arab, African, regional and international organisations; specialised Arab and African institutions; Arab and African intellectuals; leaders of prominent private sector establishments as well as civil society in both Africa and the Arab World.