It was decided to establish the General Federation of Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture for Arab Countries during the first conference held at the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce in the city of Alexandria on May 8, 1951, and the basic statute of the union was drawn up at the second conference held in Beirut on December 16, 1951 where the establishment of the Union was announced, which has since then taken the city of Beirut as the headquarters of its General Secretariat. The Union represents an independent, non-governmental, non-profit, regional legal entity. Its name was changed to the Union of Arab Chambers - UAC, at the 120th session of the Union Council, which was held in the city of Muscat, Sultanate of Oman, on March 26. 2016. The primary motivation for establishing the Union was the awareness of Arab businessmen about the importance of regional cooperation as a means to advance Arab economic development. The Union was the first Arab economic institution working at the non-governmental level to promote the idea of cooperation and economic integration between Arab countries. The Union has played an important role in advancing trade cooperation between Arab countries at the commercial and investment levels. The Union was also the first to call for the establishment of the Arab Common Market and to set the general principles that must be implemented in order to achieve economic unity among the Arab countries.