Mogherini Starts Beirut Visit by Meeting PM

Local Editor

The European Union's foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, commenced her Beirut visit by meeting with Prime Minister Tammam Salam at the Grand Serail.

The EU official then headed to Bustros Palace where she later met with Foreign Minister Gibran Bassil.

Mogherini had touched down in Beirut coming from Brussels overnight for a one-day official visit with senior officials.

She is expected to discuss with Lebanese officials the impact of more than 1 million Syrian refugees on the country's fragile security and ailing economy.

Besides, she will also inspect a Syrian refugee encampment and a public school in Barr Elias in the Bekaa Valley.

Mogherini will wrap up her short visit to Lebanon with a news conference at 5 pm at the EU delegation in Saifi.

This official visit comes ahead of a similar trip by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and president of the World Bank, Dr. Jim Kim, who are scheduled to arrive in Beirut on Thursday.

Relatively, in the buildup to the high-level meeting on global responsibility sharing for Syrian refugees that will take place in Geneva on March 30, Ban will leave New York Wednesday for a joint visit to Lebanon, Jordan and Tunisia.

Talks are expected to focus on the refugee crisis and the prolonged presidential vacuum as Lebanon has been without a head of state since May 2014.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team