Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said Lebanon’s stability and security are vital for the region, emphasizing the importance of swiftly forming a Lebanese technocratic government that will carry out the required reforms and be responsible for the interest of Lebanese people.
Shoukry visited Lebanon and met with a number of officials including President Michel Aoun, Speaker Nabih Berri, and Prime Minister Saad Hariri. However, he did not include in his meetings the caretaker prime minister, Hassan Diab, the head of the Free Patriotic Movement, MP Gebran Bassil, and Hezbollah officials.
Shoukry passed on a message from Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to his Lebanese counterpart, reiterating Egypt’s solidarity with Lebanon and its support of the efforts exerted to form a new government.
Shoukhry noted that this would "open the door for regional and international support and serve the common interests of the region’s countries, but primarily those of the brotherly Lebanese people.”
Aoun’s office said the president lauded Egypt’s role to help Lebanon address the various crises it is facing, particularly the governmental crisis.
He also expressed the hope that “the efforts will bear positive results through committing to the constitutional and distribution rules upon which the Lebanese system is built and including all the Lebanese parties.”
Aoun stressed the accuracy of the tasks that will be entrusted to the new government, including reforms and audits to hold accountable those who stole the money of both the Lebanese and the state.
During a press conference with Hariri, Shoukry asserted that his country will continue to exert all possible efforts alongside the Lebanese political parties to overcome the crisis facing the formation of the new government.
“The political framework of the upcoming government is ruled by the constitution, the Taif Agreement and the full commitment to those documents, considered the main pillars of stability.”
Shoukry denounced the ongoing political deadlock preventing the formation of a government of specialists capable of meeting the needs of the brotherly Lebanese people and achieving stability, not only for Lebanon but for the region and Egypt.
