Cabinet meeting at Baabda Presidential Palace on March 13, 2025. (Credit: @LBpresidency/X)
BEIRUT — During its session on Thursday, presided over by President Joseph Aoun, Cabinet appointed a director-general for the Ministry of Finance, secretary-general for the Council for Development and Reconstruction (CDR) and a new managing director for the state-run telecoms company Ogero.
Amid the Lebanese Army's expanded role in the country, especially in the South, where it is working to disarm Hezbollah's military positions, Cabinet also approved aid to military personnel who have seen their salaries drastically plummet due to Lebanon's economic crisis.
Georges Marawi was appointed as the director-general of the Ministry of Finance, and Ahmad Bassam Oueidat, currently at the General Directorate of the government, as the new managing director of Ogero, following the resignation of its former CEO Imad Kreidieh, amid controversy around the telecommunications minister's decision to remove him back in March.
A source familiar with the issue told L'Orient Today that Oueidat was a top candidate after having achieved the highest score following a selection process and a series of interviews conducted by telecommunications experts as well as representatives from Ministry of Telecommunications, the Ministry of State for Administrative Reform (Omsar), the Civil Service Council.
The government also appointed Ghassan Khairallah as CDR's secretary-general; Youssef Karam and Ibrahim Chahrour as the council's vice-chairmen; and Ziad Nasr as government commissioner. CDR's remaining three membership positions were also filled: Houssam Aïnati, Georgio Kallas and Firas Abou Dib. In mid-May, the Cabinet appointed Mohammad Kabbani as chairman of CDR. The council is a key state body established during the Civil War and is responsible for planning and implementing infrastructure and development projects.
Addressing Lebanese diaspora in the UAE yesterday, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam spoke of a "new mechanism" for administrative appointments "based on transparency, competitiveness, and merit," as part of overall efforts to rebuild the public administration.
Kabbani was appointed as head of CDR through this mechanism.
"All future appointments will follow this new approach," Salam assured. "We have also launched regulatory authorities for telecommunications and electricity, and we hope to appoint their boards soon."
Cabinet also approved the item concerning financial subsidies for serving soldiers (LL14 million or $156) and retired soldiers (LL12 million or $134), to be paid from July 1.
Disarmament in Palestinian camps
In a statement read out at the end of the Cabinet meeting, Information Minister Paul Morcos said that the head of state had addressed last week's visit to Beirut by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who had discussed, among other things, the issue of withdrawing arms from Palestinian factions in Lebanon.
“The Palestinian parties said they were ready to implement the arms monopoly issue,” said President Aoun. “We have set up a Lebanese-Palestinian committee to do this. A delegation of Palestinian Authority security officials will soon visit Lebanon to discuss the [disarmament] implementation mechanism. In principle, work will start on June 16 in the three Beirut camps. If this stage is successfully completed, we will continue [disarmament] in the other camps,” he said.
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam revealed that disarmament “will begin according to a plan set up with Palestinian officials in the camps governed by the Palestine Liberation Organization [PLO], which should not pose any problems with Hamas or the other factions present in Beirut.”
“As far as Israeli violations are concerned, they are still unfortunately being perpetrated, whether on Lebanese soil or in Lebanese airspace, through repeated strikes, which did not prevent the inhabitants of southern Lebanon from voting in the municipal elections, despite the dangers,” declared the head of state.
He also congratulated the Interior, Defense and Justice Ministries for holding the elections on the weekends of May. “The holding of these elections constitutes a positive phase before the legislative elections [scheduled for 2026],” he said.
Aoun also addressed “the first 100 days of the government's work,” assuring that “it is the right of ministers to show what they have achieved, because citizens have the right to be informed.” “Even though some only show the negative points, many positive things have been accomplished. Some reactions from abroad have considered that we have done more than has been achieved in the last 15 years,” he declared.
The president also announced that he would be visiting Iraq on June 1 and Jordan on June 11.