By Daily Star Lebanon – BEIRUT: Lebanon will work with U.S. authorities in a bid to minimize
the impact of new sanctions being drafted to target Hezbollah financing
and its suspected affiliates, Prime Minister Saad Hariri said Thursday.“There’s a new bill being prepared by the U.S. Congress and we
should have a team working on explaining our efforts in combating money
laundering and other [illicit activities],” Hariri told reporters after a
meeting with President Michel Aoun at the Baabda Palace. “The
[implementation] of the bill will be harsh on Lebanon,” he said, adding
that Beirut would work with Washington to “change [the bill].” A number of members of the U.S. House of Representatives have
prepared the draft “Hezbollah International Financing Prevention
Amendments Act of 2017” – that aims to cut off all forms of financial
support to the party, which Washington deems a terrorist organization.

The
new draft, which has not yet been introduced in the House, has
reportedly added additional entities, such as the Amal Movement, to the
list of already sanctioned parties. A similar draft is said to be making the rounds in the Senate. A
high-ranking Lebanese political and banking delegation is set to travel
to Washington in May in a bid to negotiate with U.S. authorities
regarding the measures. Sources told The Daily Star Monday that the
delegation may include ministers and MPs as well as representatives of
the Association of Banks in Lebanon. The prime minister also chaired a meeting Thursday at the Grand Serail with a delegation from north Lebanon municipalities. “You
represent different political movements, but what is important is the
citizen who lives in this municipality, knowing that in the end, the
state will benefit from consolidating its presence through the
development projects that will be implemented,” Hariri told the
delegation. “What is required today is to set priorities and
develop a road map to implement all the projects that must be
complementary to each other.” Deputy Prime Minister and Health
Minister Ghassan Hasbani attended Thursday’s meeting, as did
representatives of other ministers, including those of President Aoun.

Among
the items on the agenda were real estate, health care, sewage, fishing
ports, public schools and lighting, public transportation and the
protection of heritage sites and nature reserves.

“Our goal is to
provide citizens with services that they need, especially those in the
north who have been requiring them for a long time,” Hariri said.

The
prime minister revealed that this was the first of a series of meetings
that will focus on specific regions in order to prepare the groundwork
for discussing development matters in Cabinet.

“The aim of these
successive meetings, each dedicated to a governorate in Lebanon, is to
prepare for Cabinet meetings that will be held in the regions,” he said.

Hariri added that the next meeting would take place with east Lebanon municipalities from the Bekaa region.

Hasbani also met privately with Hariri at the Grand Serail.

“I
briefed Prime Minister Hariri on the results of my visit to Washington,
especially regarding the health sector and its $150 million [World
Bank] funding,” Hasbani said.

He added that he had discussed the electricity plan with the premier.

“I
also discussed … alternatives that could be added to the
specifications to increase the transparency and the ability of this
[electricity] project to reduce the cost on the Lebanese state and to
restore electricity quicker than expected,” he said.

In March
the Cabinet approved a plan to rent two Turkish electricity producing
ships that would allegedly provide seven additional hours of electricity
a day.

Some areas in Lebanon receive as little as 12 hours of electricity per day.

© Copyright The Daily Star 2017.