French Ambassador to Lebanon Anne Grillo. (Credit: Screenshot from a video shared by the embassy)
BEIRUT — The French ambassador to Lebanon, Anne Grillo, has assured that her country "will still be there" by Lebanon's side in 2023. In a message addressed to the Lebanese on the occasion of the new year 2023, Grillo enjoined the Lebanese leaders to finally face the "existential challenges" that threaten the country, which is in the midst of a socio-economic collapse.
In a video shared on the embassy's website, the diplomat reviewed France's main actions in Lebanon in 2022.
She recalled that Paris "actively worked on the historic agreement on the maritime border" between Lebanon and Israel. "We have encouraged the Gulf countries to return to Lebanon, including Saudi Arabia, which now supports humanitarian projects with us, especially in health," she added, after Beirut experienced tensions with the Gulf monarchies because of the growing control of pro-Iranian Hezbollah in the country.
رسالة تهنئة من سفيرة فرنسا في لبنان، السيدة آن غريو، بمناسبة السنة الجديدة ٢٠٢٣.
— La France au Liban ???? (@AmbaFranceLiban) January 8, 2023
Vœux de l'Ambassadrice de France au Liban, Madame Anne Grillo, à l'occasion de la nouvelle année 2023. #FranceLibanEnsemble ????
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"Your shipping ports in Beirut and Tripoli are operating at full capacity again. Your energy resource prospects will be explored. All this is possible because major French groups are committed and take their risk, and because the French business community remains, despite everything, contributing to restore confidence and credibility in Lebanon," she added.
Grillo also said that her country has "worked for the survival of the education system" and the "success of the first edition of the Beirut Book Festival," while maintaining "its food security programs."
France "was the country that provided the vaccines needed to contain the cholera epidemic in time. And we have just made a new donation of vaccines against Covid," she said, noting that "since 2020, the solidarity of France and the French towards Lebanon … [amounts to] more than 230 million euros."
"In 2023, France will still be there, despite the challenges," the ambassador promised.
She also hoped that those who will preside over the country's future "will finally take the full measure of the existential challenges facing Lebanon, will refuse the disappearance of the state and the widespread culture of impunity that surrounds it, and will seriously commit to the reintegration of Lebanon into the international community, in the reforms necessary to redress the country and lay the foundations of a state of law and justice."
On Dec. 23, while returning from a regional conference on Iraq held in Jordan, President Emmanuel Macron said he would "work in the coming weeks on a similar format with Lebanon.
In a few days, the French capital will host a meeting of representatives from France, the United States, Qatar and Saudi Arabia to discuss the Lebanese crisis.