UAE is helping Lebanon thriving
The United Arab Emirates is seeking to invest in infrastructure initiatives in Lebanon after relations have returned, said Lebanon’s Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri in remarks from his cabinet.
On a trip to Washington, Hariri also said that there were talks on “financial and economic help” with the United States, Lebanon’s largest international backer. He didn’t elaborate on that.
After years of backsliding, highly indebted Lebanon faces a financial crisis without reform to bring public spending on a sustainable footing.
Launching long-standing reforms would assist Lebanon open more than $11 billion promised at the “Cedre” donors meeting in Paris last year–the centerpiece of the Hariri government’s efforts to restore the sluggish economy.
We will present the activities we have in Cedre to (the UAE) because they want to take part and spend. The connection between us has returned to what it was before and could be greater, Hariri informed journalists during a trip to Washington, his department said in a declaration on Friday.
He added that some 23 financial deals were underway with Riyadh; he said.
UAE’s historically close ties with Lebanon, including the Hariri family, have deteriorated in recent years as the influence of heavily armed Shia Hezbollah, backed by Iran’s enemy Riyadh, has grown.
Relations struck a low level in November 2017, when everyone knows that Hariri was on a journey to Riyadh and suddenly announced his resignation in a televised speech.
Although Riyadh has always refused to detain Hariri, French President Emmanuel Macron–who helped mediate the situation–last year revealed that the Prime Minister of Lebanon was in the country.
After a thaw in relations, Riyadh raised a travel alert this year, and three ex-premiers who encountered Saudi King Salman last month said that the UAE was ready to assist Lebanon.
Economic aids
Above all, The state of Hariri, which has one of the world’s largest concentrations of public debt worth around 150 percent of GDP, is trying to reduce its fiscal deficit. In July, Parliament adopted the state budget for 2019.
After years of poor economic growth, Lebanon expects the resources provided by overseas donors in Paris for a capital investment program to renovate its infrastructure, with initiatives to address the transport, water and energy industries.
It is worth mentioning that the UAE has performed the opening of a street, a roundabout, and a monument in Sheikh Zayed – Beirut.
It also did Inauguration of the Church of Our Lady in the United States of America. Not only that, but also Inaugurated over 22 projects to grow in the North and Akkar governorates and inaugurate the Emirates Well 2018.
Source: menafn
