Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati meets with Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari. (Credit: NNA/File)
BEIRUT — Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati met with Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari on Wednesday and reaffirmed Lebanon's commitment to the "Taif Agreement," according to a statement by Mikati's office.
Bukhari restressed the importance of the Taif Agreement "as a reference, from which the Lebanese constitution emerged."
Bukhari was received Monday at the Presidential Palace in Baabda by the head of state, President Michel Aoun. The ambassador left Baabda without making any comments; however, according to a statement from the Presidential Palace issued early Monday afternoon, the head of state discussed with Bukhari "Lebanese-Saudi relations and ways to develop them on all levels."
The Saudi diplomat also insisted on keeping to "constitutional deadlines" in reference to the presidential election that must take place before the end of Aoun's term on Oct. 31.
Later on Monday, Bukhari was also received in Ain al-Tineh by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri but did not make any comments after the meeting.
Meanwhile, a dinner that was due to be held Tuesday at the Swiss Embassy in Beirut and to which various Lebanese political representatives were invited has been indefinitely postponed, after news that the event caused controversy on the local political scene, including tweets from the Saudi ambassador to Lebanon that were interpreted in some camps as evidence of Riyadh's opposition to the event. On Sunday evening, Bukhari tweeted a message recalling the importance of the 1989 Taif agreement concluded in Taif, Saudi Arabia, that ended the Civil War in Lebanon.