Report: Parliament Expected to Discuss 2018 Budget ahead of Cedre Conference

Speaker Nabih Berri is expected to invite the Parliament to session this week to discuss the 2018 governmnet budget, before the country's delegation heads to France for the Cedre Conference (Paris IV) aimed at boosting investments and economic finances in Lebanon, media reports said on Monday.

Al-Joumhouria daily said there is a possibility that Berri would call the Parliament to session for two consecutive meetings on Wednesday and Thursday, before the donor conference launches on April 6.

In preparation for this conference, a ministerial and administrative gathering between Lebanese and French parties will be held in Paris on Monday, said the daily.

From Lebanon, it will include ministers Jamal al-Jarrah, Raed Khoury, Governor of Banque du Liban Riad Salameh, Chairman of the Council for Development and Reconstruction Nabil Jisr, Director-General of the Ministry of Finance Alain Bifani, Director of Political Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ambassador Ghadi Khoury, and a delegation including Mireille Aoun al-Hashem and Fadi Asali (advisers to the president), advisers to the Premier (Saad Hariri) Nadim al-Manla and Hazar Caracalla, and a third from the Ministry of Energy and Water, it added.

French presidential envoy, Pierre Duquesne, in charge of ongoing preparations for the Paris IV, is expected to be waiting for the Lebanese delegation to hold preliminary talks in the presence of representatives of the countries that will participate in the conference in preparation for his work, said al-Joumhouria.

On March 12, Lebanon's Cabinet agreed the government's 2018 budget and passed it to Parliament for approval.