Caretaker Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati (c) stands with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi (l) and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, during COP27 on November 7, 2022. (Credit: Dalati and Nohra)
BEIRUT — Caretaker Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati denied Tuesday that he had a direct meeting with an Israeli official during the UN climate conference COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, according to the premier's media office.
COP27, which will continue until Nov. 18, brings together delegates from nearly 200 countries in the fight against global warming.
Mikati is attending COP27 at the head of a Lebanese delegation including caretaker Environment Minister Nasser Yassin and Lebanon's ambassador to Egypt, Ali Halabi.
According to Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Mikati, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh, as well as officials from Iraq, Oman and Jordan — countries that do not recognize Israel as a country — met Tuesday with Israel's Environmental Protection Minister Tamar Zandberg "in a closed-door meeting at the United Nation's climate conference."
Mikati's media office clarified Tuesday that the premier attended "an expanded meeting which took place at the invitation of Egypt and Cyprus's presidents and with their presence, along with a wide international and Arab participation," and insisted the meeting did not involve any contact with any Israeli official.