Miqati Urges Renewal of Trust and Perseverance to Confront Challenges

Prime Minister Najib Miqati appealed on Thursday for unity among the country's bickering leaders, and perseverance to confront political and economic challenges.

Lebanese “leaders are invited to renew trust among each other... and put their political differences aside to confront challenges,” Miqati said at the opening of Lebanon's Economic Forum at the Four Seasons Hotel.

He called for “perseverance to confront the storm” and “to overcome the next stage with the minimum loss.”

“It is unfortunate that Lebanese political differences had a severe impact on the economic situation. Had the politicians been wiser and more responsible, the Lebanese economy would have been capable of showing a stronger immunity in confronting the developments in the region,” he said.

But the premier told the conference that despite the regional upheaval and international financial crisis Lebanon has shown strong immunity and its economy's major foundations remained untouched.

The banking sector is still strong, there is fiscal stability and industrial exports to Arab countries are growing, he said while admitting that the tourism sector suffered losses and the real estate sector was stagnant.

“What has harmed us has also harmed others in the Arab world and outside it,” Miqati said in his speech.

“I am optimistic and sure that Lebanon's future will be better … and the economy will grow stronger after the return of stability and the exploration of oil and gas,” the PM told the conference.

However, he criticized the March 14 opposition alliance for boycotting the national dialogue that President Michel Suleiman has been calling for to bring the rival camps together.

The boycott of the all-party talks is a democratic right, he said. But he described the preconditions set by the opposition as “contributing intentionally or unintentionally to the obstruction of the efforts and salvation initiatives” aimed at resolving the country's crisis.

President Michel Suleiman postponed a new round of national dialogue that was set to be held on Thursday to January 7 after the March 14 coalition insisted that it would not take part in the all-party talks before the resignation of Miqati's government.

A political crisis erupted in Lebanon last month when the opposition said it would not sit at the same dialogue table with Hizbullah and called for the formation of a new cabinet after it blamed the current government for the assassination of Internal Security Forces Intelligence Branch chief Wissam al-Hassan.