The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, Gebran Bassil, continued his meetings for the second consecutive day in the United Nations building. He met with Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias. During the meeting, Bassil addressed the upcoming tripartite gathering between Lebanon, Greece and Cyprus as well as the Rhodes conference in June, during which Lebanon will present a document on displaced persons and emigration.
Minister Bassil then met his Hungarian counterpart, Peter Syarto, with whom he signed an agreement on cultural and scientific cooperation, which provides the exchange of scholarships between the two countries. He also discussed his visit to Hungary next month, which will be of an economic nature.
He also discussed with the Bulgarian minister, Ekaterina Zahryeva, the EU’s chairmanship by his country early next year, and ways to strengthen the cooperation between Lebanon and Hungary during their undertaking of the chairmanship of the European Union.
In addition, he tackled with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Côte d’Ivoire, Marcel Amuntano, the candidacy of Vera Khoury Lacoeuilhe for the post of Director-General of UNESCO, and the next Energy Conference to be held in Africa in February 2018.
On the other hand, Bassil spoke with his Swedish counterpart, Margot Elizabeth Wallstrom, about the Lebanese families who will be deported by the Swedish authorities and announced the refusal to receive them. Wallstrom promised to find a solution to this problem.
Furthermore, Minister Gebran Bassil also met with his Syrian counterpart Walid Al-Moallem in New York as part of restoring the normal ties between the two countries. Al-Manar news reported that the meeting was held upon the Lebanese top diplomat’s request.
Finally, Bassil met with his Armenian counterpart Eduard Nalbandian, who invited him to attend the conference on the protection of minorities to be held in Armenia on the 21th of November.
Translated by Hala Hayek Najjar
