US Undersecretary of State for the Middle East Barbara Leaf (c) and US Ambassador to Lebanon Dorothy Shea are received by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri in Ain el-Tine, March 24, 2023. (Credit: NNA)
BEIRUT — US Under Secretary of State for the Middle East Barbara Leaf visited Friday Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and caretaker Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdallah Bou Habib to discuss the situation in Lebanon and the region.
After visiting Berri, Leaf discussed with Minister Bou Habib "the political and economic developments in Lebanon, as well as the changes in the region including the consequences of the Iranian-Saudi agreement, the Yemeni conflict and the Syrian crisis," said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on its Twitter account.
Leaf was accompanied by US Ambassador Dorothy Shea. In the late afternoon, she was received by Nagib Mikati and invited to an iftar.
The United States, along with other powers like France and Saudi Arabia, have called on Lebanese leaders to take the actions needed to extricate Lebanon from the financial crisis that has unfolded since 2019.
An IMF delegation visiting Lebanon for ten days warned Thursday that the country is living "a very dangerous moment," and deplored the slow implementation of reforms by political leaders. The IMF reached a preliminary agreement with the Lebanese authorities in April 2022 to provide the country with aid worth 3 billion dollars over a period of four years on the condition that reforms are adopted.