Lebanese President Michel Aoun (c) receiving Arab ministers of social affairs in Baabda, June 3, 2022. (Credit: Twitter/@LBpresidency)
BEIRUT — Arab countries are "ready to help Lebanese civil society," Egyptian Social Solidarity Minister Nevine al-Kabbaj said in a press briefing on Friday, after she was received with other Arab social affairs ministers by President Michel Aoun at the Presidential Palace in Baabda.
Here’s what we know:
• Some Arab Social Affairs Ministers accompanied by officials of the Arab League, who are on a visit to Lebanon, were also received yesterday by caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati.
• "We are ready to help the Lebanese civil society, and we also have many associations that can help," said al-Kabbaj as she left the Presidential Palace. Regarding the unprecedented economic crisis that Lebanon is going through, the Egyptian minister also said that Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi “expresses his support to the government, the Lebanese people and civil society in order to deploy efforts to get Lebanon out of this scourge.”
• The Presidency’s Twitter account stressed: "Lebanon’s need for assistance from Arab countries, in order to overcome these difficult economic, social and human circumstances." The delegation he received also included Jordanian Social Development Minister Ayman al-Maflah and his Iraqi counterpart Salar Abdel Sater. The Presidential visit took place in the presence of the Lebanese Caretaker Social Affairs Minister Hector Hajjar.
• For his part, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati told the delegation that Lebanon has drafted the basic elements for the negotiations with the International Monetary Fund, noting that the country is relying on the support of “Arab brothers and friends of Lebanon around the world” in these negotiations.
• Mikati also stated that Lebanon believes that Arab solidarity and coordination is a must in the troubled era the country is facing.