Lebanon's Finance Minister Yassine Jaber (left) with Saudi ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari (right) on 27 May 2025. (Credit: @KSAembassyLB/X)
The Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon, Walid Bukhari, visited the Minister of Finance, Yassine Jaber, today at the Ministry's headquarters in downtown Beirut, Saudi Arabia's embassy to Lebanon said in a post on X Tuesday.
"During the meeting, they discussed the latest developments in Lebanon and the region, the reform measures being implemented by the Ministry of Finance to revitalize the economy and stimulate growth, as well as ways to enhance investment between the two brotherly countries across various sectors," the Saudi embassy said.
Relations between Lebanon and some Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries are slowly thawing after years of diplomatic strain, mainly linked to Hezbollah’s influence in Lebanon.
The year-long war between the Iran-backed militant group and Israel inflicted severe damage across Lebanon’s southern and eastern regions, subsequently weakening Hezbollah.
President Joseph Aoun and Nawaf Salam’s government have since been working to mend ties with the GCC, and particularly Saudi Arabia — once an important ally for Lebanon — which had imposed an import and travel ban on the country in recent years.
Aoun made his first official foreign visit to the kingdom in early March, becoming the first Lebanese head of state to do so in over six years.