Statement delivered by UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Sigrid Kaag on behalf of the International Support Group for Lebanon after Meeting President Michel Aoun

4 November 2016

Baabda, Lebanon

We had the privilege and honor of a first meeting with President Michel Aoun. We congratulated him once more on behalf of the International Support Group for Lebanon and we then used the opportunity to exchange first ideas.

We are pleased that his election has brought renewed confidence and hope for the people of Lebanon, for the institutions of State’s better functioning, the economy and of course security and stability of the country. We were honored to be in Parliament to witness President Aoun’s election at the time and to see Lebanon’s vibrant democratic process in action.

We also expressed our hope for the timely conduct of Lebanon’s Parliamentary elections next year by May 2017 and we spoke with the President of the continuing importance and vitality of shielding Lebanon from regional conflict. The impact of the Syria crisis on Lebanon of course is one of the issues of shared concern and we very much agreed with the President to stay in regular dialogue with himself and Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri to discuss ways in which the pressures on Lebanon can be alleviated and equally so to allow us to continue to provide appropriate assistance and development support both of course for Lebanon, Lebanon’s citizens as well as for Syrian and Palestine refugees.

We had the opportunity to hand over an aide memoire  which underlines a number of the key principles of Lebanon’s past and current engagement with the international community in line with Security Council Resolutions as well as the Statement of Intent of the London Conference of February 2016.

This was of course a first meeting and we are delighted to stay in regular contact as indicated by President Aoun.