Speaker Nabih Berri's adviser Health Minister Ali Hassan Khalil stressed on Thursday the importance of dialogue as it is the only way to resolve the political crises in the country.

“Everyone should collaborate with the calls to resume dialogue,” Hassan told reporters after holding talks with Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi in Bkirki.

Speaker Nabih Berri stressed on Wednesday that parliamentary work will not cease its activity in light of the March 14-led opposition's announcement that it will boycott all government work.

His visitors quoted him as saying during his weekly meeting with MPs: “I am keen on the participation of all political powers in any legislative session.”

Speaker Nabih Berri said Wednesday that the meeting of the parliamentary subcommittees will be held on time and that boycotting the sessions for security reasons is a consideration that affects everyone.

Berri said, if security reasons compel some parties to boycott the sessions, these considerations affect everyone and are not limited to one team, the As Safir daily said Wednesday.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs Elizabeth Jones arrived in Lebanon on Tuesday where she is set to hold talks with senior officials.

She kicked off her visit by holding separate talks with President Michel Suleiman and Speaker Nabih Berri.

Speaker Nabih Berri has maintained his contacts with members of the March 14 camp despite the dispute with its rival March 8 camp, reported As Safir newspaper on Tuesday.

It noted that the speaker received on Saturday a telephone call from former Primer Minister Saad Hariri on the occasion of Eid al-Adha during which the two officials discussed the latest developments in Lebanon.

Speaker Nabih Berri criticized on Wednesday calls for the government to resign, warning of a political vacuum in Lebanon should such a step be taken.

He added however: “We reject the resignation of the government and political vacuum, but we will accept what the Lebanese agree upon.”

Speaker Nabih Berri lashed out on Wednesday at the March 14 alliance, pointing out that it acquired all the “flaws” of the March 8 camp and added to it its own “dreadful behavior.”

“Instead of cooperating and acquiring each others positive traits, the March 14 forces decided to take the March 8 camp's flaws and added worse behavior to them,” Berri's visitors quoted him as saying in comments published in An Nahar newspaper on Wednesday.

President Michel Suleiman held a series of consultations on Tuesday with Lebanese foes over the political situation in the country while the opposition insists on the resignation of the cabinet as a key condition to resume any political activity with the March 8 alliance.

Head of al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc MP Fouad Saniora held talks with Suleiman at the Baabda Palace, where he briefed him on the March 14 alliance's demands concerning the immediate resignation of the government and the camp's stance from the recent developments in the country.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton warned on Tuesday against a political vacuum in Lebanon after the opposition March 14 camp called for Premier Najib Miqati to step down over the assassination of Intelligence Bureau chief Maj. Gen. Wissam al-Hasan in a car bombing blamed on Syria.

Ashton met with Miqati at the Grand Serail, President Michel Suleiman at the Baabda palace and Speaker Nabih Berri at Ain el-Tineh.

Former prime minister Saad Hariri on Sunday received phone calls from U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius and U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon, who offered him condolences on the assassination of Maj. Gen. Wissam al-Hasan and his bodyguard Ahmed Suhyouni.

“During the phone calls, discussions also tackled the developments which Lebanon is witnessing after the heinous assassination. (Ex-)Premier Hariri stressed that the Lebanese people are staging a civil, democratic movement to overthrow the government of Premier Najib Miqati, adding that March 14 forces will boycott the government until it falls, as it is the product of the Syrian-Iranian axis and is working to achieve the interests and influence of this axis at the expense of the interests and security of Lebanon and its people,” Hariri's office said in a statement.