Siniora solicits Belgium's support handling Syria refugees' crisis

Future Parliamentary bloc leader, Fouad Siniora, met on Wednesday, the President of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives, André Flahaut, at the Central House. Attending the meeting had been a delegation accompanying Mr. Flahaut and MPs Boutros Harb, Bassem el-Chabb, Atef Majdalani, Nabil De Freige, Amine Wehbi, Khodor Habib, and former MP Nayla Maawad. At the end of the meeting, Flahaut said that they had discussed the situation in Lebanon and the region, including the electoral law. In this context, he indicated that those meetings also witnessed an exchange of Parliament expertise, highlighting the importance of learning from the experiences of others in order to make progress at the parliamentary level. He emphasized the qualities of former Prime Minister, Rafic Hariri, and said that he was a pragmatist and realistic person, who was also characterized by charismatic traits, vision, and enthusiasm. Siniora, for his part, said that the meeting had also focused on Arab-European relations, especially in the shadow of the Syrian crisis and its impact on the Arab region. He expressed hope that Belgium continues to support Lebanon, through the European Union, including its presence within "UNIFIL" in southern Lebanon. He also requested Belgium's assistance to overcome the crisis of Syrian refugees in Lebanon.