Minister Hajjar: “We agreed with President
Aoun on many points, and communication with Syria is on-going”.
President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun,
chaired a meeting devoted to address the stages of implementing the plan
to return displaced Syrians.
The meeting was attended by Foreign Minister, Abdullah
Bou Habib and Social Affairs Minister, Hector Hajjar, in addition to advisers,
Rafic Shelala and Raymond Tarabay.
Deliberations will continue at a later meeting.
Statement:
After the meeting, Social Affairs Minister, Hector
Hajjar, made the following statement:
“We met the President of the Republic, in the presence
of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the discussion focused mainly on the
issue of the displaced Syrians and the developments that occurred during the
last three weeks.
It is certain that we agreed with His Excellency the
President on many points related to their return plan, and we coordinated
positions in the hope that next week we will hold meetings to end the basic
stage of agreement on the return plan.
Questions & Answers:
Asked about his position on the Syrian ambassador’s
criticism of the Lebanese position expressed by the foreign minister, Minister
Hajjar replied: “The Syrian ambassador did not criticize, but rather explained
the words made by the foreign minister to a newspaper, and clarification is a
natural process. It is certain that today there are integrated positions,
sometimes contradictory and sometimes integrated. The Foreign Minister
expressed his opinion on a certain point, so the Syrian ambassador tried to
clarify the matter. These issues are normal and simple, but they have nothing
to do with the Syrian state’s refusal to accept the return of the displaced”.
Question: Will the completion of the picture in the next stage, regarding the
issue of return, follow communication with the Syrian state at the highest
levels?
Answer: “The communication has not been interrupted, and it is not necessary to
announce it whenever it happens. Syria is a brotherly country and is close to
Lebanon and has a million and a half displaced people there. We have an embassy
and we have daily relations with it, and communication or relations between the
two countries have never been interrupted”.
British Ambassador:
The President Aoun met the new British Ambassador to
Lebanon, Mr. Hamish Cowell CMG, and discussed with him the Lebanese-British
relations.
Ambassador Cowell affirmed his determination to strengthen
and continue these relations in all fields.
For his part, President Aoun praised the support
provided by Britain to the Lebanese army, especially building towers along the
eastern and northern borders to control the crossings and prevent infiltration.
The meeting also tackled Lebanon’s position on the on-going
negotiations to demarcate the southern maritime borders and the on-going
negotiations with the International Monetary Fund within the framework of the
economic recovery plan set by the government.