Le Drian Meets al-Rahi, Lauds His Neutrality Initiative
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian held talks Thursday in Bkirki with Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi and lauded his call for Lebanon’s neutrality, Bkirki said.
Al-Rahi explained “the Lebanese and regional circumstances that encouraged him to propose the positive and effective neutrality project in order to rescue Lebanon, especially that historically Lebanon has been a neutral country,” a Bkirki statement said.
“The system of neutrality requires the rise of a state that is strong through its institutions and army so that it manages to resolve the pending domestic issues and defend Lebanon’s sovereignty and independence,” the patriarch told his visitor.
Le Drian for his part expressed appreciation of al-Rahi’s initiative, noting that “Lebanon’s sovereignty, which France is keen on, requires that Lebanon be a neutral country dissociated from conflicts and axes.”
“Lebanon possesses all the requirements to rise again,” the French minister added, according to the Bkirki statement.
Source: Naharnet
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