First of all, I am very grateful that with His Eminence Grand Mufti Derian we continue in our regular dialogue and consultations about both what is happening in the country and what is happening in the region but also what are the activities of the United Nations and that was on our agenda of today’s meeting.

I informed His Eminence about the forthcoming session of the Security Council that will discuss relatively soon the developments in Lebanon, and we talked about the hope that the politicians of the country will indeed introduce a number of economic and social reforms that would alleviate the burden of the people of Lebanon, of common people, because reforms are very much needed, and from my side I can say that sometimes there is a feeling that there is a little bit of reluctance on the side of some parts of Lebanon establishment to introduce them.

We also discussed how important it is to also and always refer to the fundaments behind the current order and the fundaments that would inform the building of the future of Lebanon, the fundaments of the Taif Agreement and the Constitution of the country, because the Taif Agreement is indeed not only putting the end of some tragic past but this is the only solid fundament for the future. Again, we agreed that it is very important to follow both the letter and spirit in the practical work, including of political forces here and all that should once again work for stability, peace and development of this country.

As the third element, we talked about how important it is to work together, including the UN, to prevent and curb hate speech. I informed His Eminence about a very important global UN strategy against hate speech and we agreed with His eminence that we will continue working on this subject that is one of the areas and one of the elements included in combatting violent extremism. This is something that we will be putting on our agenda of the UN in our cooperation with the whole segments of all society here in Lebanon, including political leaders and religious leaders, etc. So, we had a very good and very rich discussion. I very much appreciate the fact that we do find a lot of common ground with His Eminence in talking about the needs of the country.