Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said Tuesday he intends to visit Saudi Arabia before the end of April. He said this, speaking at a press conference following a meeting with the kingdom's ambassador in Beirut.
"I will be heading to Riyadh as soon as possible, and more precisely before the end of the month of Ramadan, which is the Muslim fasting month," he said.
Mikati stressed that his upcoming visit was made possible by improved relations with Saudi Arabia, which returned its ambassador Walid al-Bukhari to Lebanon on April 8 after a six-month hiatus. "We are striving to establish the best possible relations with the Saudi kingdom and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)," he said.
In turn, ambassador al-Bukhari reported on the development of a program of humanitarian assistance to Lebanon together with France, within which projects in the social and economic sphere will be realized. The diplomat stressed that his return to Beirut has nothing to do with the parliamentary elections to be held on May 15. "We are not interfering in internal affairs and are seeking to strengthen stability in Lebanon, to preserve its belonging to the Arab world," he said.
Authorities in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates expelled Lebanese ambassadors and recalled their diplomats from Beirut last October after scandalous remarks by former Information Minister George Kordahi. The former minister spoke in defense of the Yemeni Houthis rebels, who he said were resisting Saudi Arabia's unjust and inhumane aggression, on an Al-Jazeera TV program. Riyadh called Kordahi's remarks defamatory and distorting the kingdom's position in support of the legitimate Yemeni government.
Earlier, the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar wrote that the return of the Saudi ambassador to Beirut was due to the need to provide material support to those Lebanese political forces who are running against the Shiite party Hezbollah and its Christian ally, the pro-president Free Patriotic Movement.
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Based on materials from TASS