Prime Minister Najib Mikati meets with Algerian Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra in Doha on Sunday. (Credit: @grandserail)
BEIRUT — Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Sunday called on the Algerian Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra to exempt Lebanon from his country’s decision to stop the export of sugar in light of threats to the country’s food security following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Here’s what we know:
• In a meeting on the sidelines of the Doha Forum, Mikati urged the Algerian minister to help his country “cope with the repercussions of the war in Ukraine” by giving the green light again to sugar exports to Lebanon, according to comments reported by Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency. The two leaders also discussed bilateral relations.
• Mikati, who has been in Qatar since Friday, also met with Mexico’s Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard Casaubon, and with the US special envoy for Iran, Robert Malley, at a time when an agreement on the Iranian nuclear issue seems increasingly close, according to various sources.
• The premier also discussed with the CEO of TotalEnergies, Patrick Pouyanné, the obstacles to drilling in Lebanese territorial waters, and a tender that could be launched by Lebanon to build a gas liquefaction plant in Zahrani in South Lebanon.