Speaker Nabih Berri has said that a meeting held on Thursday between his aide and al-Mustaqbal movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri's adviser could be the last before the much anticipated dialogue between Hizbullah and al-Mustaqbal.

Local dailies published on Friday quoted Berri as telling his visitors that the talks between his aide Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil and Nader Hariri to agree on the agenda of the dialogue could be the last one.

U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Derek Plumbly welcomed on Thursday the recent efforts to push for dialogue between Hizbullah and al-Mustaqbal movement.

Plumbly said following talks with Speaker Nabih Berri in Ain el-Tineh that he agreed with him that “dialogue is necessary for strengthening Lebanon’s security, stability and coexistence and for moving forward on outstanding constitutional steps.”

Russian deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov is seeking to end the political deadlock in Lebanon and the rift between the Lebanese arch-foes during his visit to Beirut, Russian Ambassador to Lebanon Alexander Zasypkin said on Thursday.

The consultations setting the stage for the dialogue between Hizbullah and al-Mustaqbal movement have almost been completed and are awaiting Speaker Nabih Berri's decision to set the date for the talks, the Hizbullah leader's aide, Hussein Khalil, said.

The preparatory meetings, which have been held between Berri's aide Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil and Nader Hariri, the advisor of al-Mustaqbal movement chief ex-PM Saad Hariri, are paving way for the dialogue, Hussein Khalil told As Safir daily published on Wednesday.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea has welcomed a dialogue that is expected to take place between Hizbullah and al-Mustaqbal movement and considered a proposal made by Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun to end the presidential crisis as “not logical.”

Geagea told As Safir daily published on Tuesday that he is “in principle with any dialogue, in particular between Sunnis and Shiites in Lebanon.”

Nader Hariri, who is the adviser of al-Mustaqbal movement chief ex-PM Saad Hariri, has held talks with Speaker Nabih Berri's aide Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil to set the stage for the dialogue between Hizbullah and al-Mustaqbal, al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Tuesday.

The daily said that the meeting between Nader Hariri and Khalil took place on Monday.

The dialogue that is scheduled to take place between Hizbullah and al-Mustaqbal movement has been put on the right track after the return of Nader Hariri from talks with al-Mustaqbal movement chief ex-PM Saad Hariri in Paris.

Local dailies published Monday quoted Speaker Nabih Berri as saying that contacts between him and the representatives of the two parties will become more active this week.

A member of the Constitutional Council described the decision to reject the Free Patriotic Movement's appeal against the extension of parliament's term as “legal, constitutional and national.”

“The term of the parliament ended and the cabinet is not capable of staging the polls,” the member, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told An Nahar newspaper published on Sunday.

Former president Michel Suleiman on Monday called on the Maronite political parties to put aside “personal interests” and put an end to the drawn-out presidential vacuum.

“I reiterate my call for all Maronite parties to put aside personal interests and elect a new president immediately,” Suleiman said during a ceremony at the Vatican, where he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Order of Pius IX.

Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil asked on Friday for the assistance of the international community to prevent interference in Lebanon's internal affairs and hoped that the vacuum at the presidential palace would not persist.

Bassil addressed diplomats based in Lebanon, asking for “assistance not to meddle in its affairs but to stand by its residents and institutions.”