Sources close to Baabda Palace say that President Michel Sleiman is in a hurry to draft Cabinet’s policy statement and have the government gain a vote of confidence from Parliament before March 5, the date set for the International Support Group for Lebanon’s conference in Paris that Sleiman will be attending. The sources pointed to the importance of the aid promised to Lebanon to help it strengthen its constitutional and security institutions, deal with the increasing influx of Syrian refugees, and fight growing extremism and terrorism.

 

Sleiman is expected to hold a number of meetings in Paris, the most notable of which will be with French President Francois Hollande and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. The discussions are expected to touch on the situation in the region as a whole, and in Lebanon specifically, in light of the recent formation of a new Cabinet. [Link]