Report: Hariri to Travel to Paris Later this Month

Prime Minister Saad Hariri is expected to meet in Paris later in September French President Emmanuel Macron to follow on the pledged billions in loans and grants agreed at the CEDRE conference in Paris last year, the Saudi Asharq al-Awsat reported on Wednesday.

The daily said Hariri is expected to fly to Paris on September 20 to meet Macron.

On Tuesday, Pierre Duquesne, the French inter-ministerial delegate for the Mediterranean tasked with following up on the results of CEDRE, met with Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil and Minister of Economy and Trade Mansour Bteish. Duquesne is expected to meet the Premier today.

The French diplomat discussed with Lebanese officials several issues related to CEDRE, to the 2020 state budget and the reforms it introduced.

He expressed “cautious satisfaction with the official moves to face the deepening financial crisis, and encouraged the acceleration of measures starting with the completion of the 2020 draft budget,” said the daily.

Donors at the so-called CEDRE conference last year in Paris pledged $11 billion in aid and soft loans to Lebanon, which has promised to reduce its public spending including on electricity.

The objective of the CEDRE conference for the international community was to support the development and the strengthening of the Lebanese economy as part of a comprehensive plan for reform and for infrastructure investments as prepared by the Lebanese authorities and presented during the conference.