The new Energy Minister Joe Saddi pledged during his official inauguration at the Energy Ministry on Thursday to "do everything possible" to improve "essential services" provision to citizens, as Lebanon has been suffering from constant electricity shortages for decades, promising to keep his Ministry away from political tensions.

During the handover ceremony with former minister Walid Fayyad, Saddi pledged to adopt an approach of "constructive neutrality," away from the political quarrels that have always surrounded the Energy Ministry, which has been under the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) since 2008. The new minister is close to the Lebanese Forces, the FPM's main competitor on the Christian political scene. Promising to work "completely transparently and sustainably" and to fight "firmly" against corruption, the Minister also announced "structural and administrative reforms" in the electricity and water sectors. He stated that he would work on creating the long-awaited Electricity Regulatory Authority, gradually increasing electricity hours "while reducing costs."

Since the end of the Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990) in Lebanon until today, the Lebanese have benefited from only a few hours of public electricity per day.

Fayyad said on Thursday that he tried to resolve this issue during his term "despite the difficult context," highlighting that he enabled a "spectacular" increase in renewable energy supply in the country.