Lebanese caretaker Energy Minister Walid Fayad (l.) meets with Iraqi energy minister Ihsan Abdul-Jabbar Ismail in Baghdad on July 5, 2022. (Credit: Courtesy of Lebanese Energy Ministry)
BEIRUT — Caretaker Energy Minister Walid Fayad, after a meeting Tuesday with his Iraqi counterpart Ihsan Abdul-Jabbar Ismail in Baghdad, said that he has "sensed" “support” for extending a fuel deal that supplies Lebanon with Iraqi fuel “if the process secures benefits for both parties.”
Here’s what we kn0w:
• In a press briefing prepared by his office, Fayad, after meeting with Iraqi Finance Minister Ali Allawi, said that Allawi “stressed on the Iraqi support towards the Lebanese government in general and towards the [Iraqi fuel] deal in particular.”
• Fayad also said that Allawi expressed his hope of reaching “drastic solutions in the banking, financial and economical sectors.” Fayad also quoted Allawi saying that “continuous relations with Lebanon must take into consideration the Lebanese financial state when upgrading any agreement.”
• The Iraqi finance minister also said, according to Fayad, that he expressed “willingness to look into the potential of the extension of the [Iraqi fuel] deal and upgrading it to secure a sustainable process that benefits both parties when it comes to its [the fuel deal’s] size and its ability to fund its need for fuel through facilitated terms, or a trade agreement, or both choices at the same time”
• During his visit to Iraq, Fayad also met with Iraq’s central bank governor Mostafa Moukhif who, according to Fayad, supported the expansion of the deal, but said that such a decision “also needs governmental approval.”
• A spokesperson for the Energy Ministry told L’Orient Today on Tuesday afternoon that the Iraqi officials did not specify when they will decide on whether or not to extend the deal.
• In July 2021, Lebanon signed a deal with Iraq in which Lebanon gets Iraqi fuel for a year to help Lebanon deal with its electricity crisis in return for some services which are still to this day very vague and reportedly unimplemented. The deal signed between Lebanon and Iraq expires in ٍSeptember.