Salam Travels to New York for U.N. Meeting on Refugees

Prime Minister Tammam Salam traveled to New York on Saturday along with a delegation to take part in the 71th session of the United Nations General Assembly, the National News Agency reported.

Salam is expected to deliver a speech on the occasion as he will have several meetings with Arab and foreign leaders.

World leaders gather in New York in the coming days where the high-level week will kick off with a summit, on Monday 19 September, to address large movements of refugees and migrants.

This is the first time the General Assembly has called for a summit at the Heads of State and Government level on this topic and it is a historic opportunity to come up with a blueprint for a better international response.

Lebanon is expected to grasp the opportunity during the U.N. meeting to clarify the country's refusal to naturalize Syrian refugees.

Labor Minister Sejaan Azzi had stressed during his meeting on Friday with EU Ambassador Christina Lassen, Lebanon's incapacity to support the additional burden of Syrian refugees' despite aids.

Azzi said that it was paramount today to establish a concrete plan to deal with this issue.

He hoped that the international community and the United Nations would be ready to respond to Salam's initiative and to adopt a plan to allow refugees go back to Syria.