Minister Bou Habib partakes in Rome Mediterranean Conference, meets Borrell-[PHOTO]

Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdallah Bou Haabib partook in a dialogue session as part of the Rome Mediterranean Conference.

 

The dialogue session was attended by a number of United Nations, European and Arab officials, during which Bou Habib presented the situation in Lebanon and the region and listed the government's priorities, which revolve around negotiations with the International Monetary Fund and reforms, mainly in the electricity and banking sectors, as well as the holding of parliamentary elections.

 

Bou Habib then tackled Lebanon’s relations with the Arab nations, mainly the Gulf states, stressing Lebanon’s Arab identity and the government's commitment to the self-dissociation policy.

 

Minister Bouhabib had participated in a number of seminars in the conference on the Middle East, energy and the Euro-Mediterranean partnership.

 

He also met European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on the sidelines of the conference with discussions focusing on the EU’s aid to Lebanon.

 

Borell, for one, stressed the necessity of implementing the reforms in order to benefit from the financial support within the framework of a program with the International Monetary Fund.

 

The issue of Syrian refugees and its impact on the internal Lebanese situation, economically, security and socially, and the need to find new approaches to solve it were also discussed.