Lebanon conference March 5 to focus on stability, assistance, support

An international conference on Lebanon to be held in the French capital on March 5 will focus on stability, assistance and support issues and will work to confirm a consensus among participants, a senior French official said on Friday. "It will be an opportunity to reaffirm the international consensus on the stability of Lebanon, to review the action taken by the group and re-mobilise on each of the three sectors: assistance with (Syrian) refugees, support for the Lebanese army, and economic aid," Foreign Ministry spokesman Romain Nadal indicated in a briefing. He noted that the Lebanon Support Group would meet with President Michel Sleiman in Paris and that there would be representatives from the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain, Germany, Italy and Spain attending the talks. The Arab League and the European Union will also be sending senior officials. The focus is "on the need to preserve Lebanon from any destabilisation and any impact from the Syrian crisis on its stability, sovereignty or on its institutions," Nadal said. But Nadal also agreed that the approach to helping Lebanon could take several forms and both political and economic support might be forthcoming on March 5. All of this has to achieved in "a context which is difficult," Nadal admitted, noting that the level of participation of delegations has not yet been decided, but it is possible it will be at ministerial level.