The Council of Ministers convened at Baabda Palace on Thursday, led by the President of the Republic, Michel Aoun, and in presence of Prime Minister Saad Hariri and all cabinet members.
The council had a 34-item agenda, in addition to other items requiring urgent and appropriate decisions such as the appointment of an electoral observation committee, and the queries project law. The session was preceded by a meeting between President Aoun and PM Hariri in which they discussed the latest developments at the local and regional scenes.
At the end of the session, Minister Milhem Riachi spoke briefly to journalists and gave the following excerpt:
“- The cabinet appointed a committee to supervise the parliamentary committee chaired by Mr. Nadim Abdel Malek.”
“- The Russian President Vladimir Putin had not asked PM Hariri to normalize relations with Syria,” said Riachi and added, ” Mr. Putin stressed the importance of steering Lebanon clear from Syrian developments.”
“- The electricity file was an urgent matter discussed by the cabinet especially after the insistence of the Lebanese Forces, the Progressive Socialist Party and the Marada Movement’s ministers,” said Riachi and added that the tenders’ administration will resume Friday while taking into consideration the remarks of the cabinet.”
“- The ministers agreed to hold an extraordinary session on Sunday evening to continue discussing the entire agenda,” said Riachi and continued by saying that “the sub-election matter was not discussed due to lack of time.”
“- The decision to cancel the festival of victory is pure logistics and due to the lack of time to organize all necessary security arrangements,” Information Minister Riachi concluded.
Hala Hayek Najjar
