Lebanon to Appeal for Further Aid during Paris Meeting

President Michel Suleiman traveled on Tuesday to the French capital Paris at the head of a delegation to attend the meeting of the French-sponsored International Support Group for Lebanon Wednesday.

“Lebanon prepared a comprehensive file based on an assessment by the World Bank,” Minister of Social Affairs Rashid Derbas said in comments published on Tuesday in al-Joumhouria newspaper.

The support group for Lebanon was set up last year to help the country deal with the implications of the brutal war in Syria that began in March 2011. It is intended to provide financial, political and security support to the small nation.

In September, the World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said that the organization carried out an assessment of the social and economic impacts of the war in neighboring Syria.

Derbas pointed out that the “Lebanese society needs all the international support to assist the Syrian refugees on its territories.”

Lebanon, a country of about 4 million people, is grappling with an influx of more than a million refugees from Syria.

“The speech of President Suleiman during the conference was coordinated with the Defense and Foreign Ministers,” the minister said.

The delegation comprise of Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Samir Moqbel, Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil, Minister Derbas and other officials.

The number of Syrian refugees in Lebanon had surged to more than 900,000 according to the United Nations' refugee agency (UNHCR) as Lebanon has been facing difficulties in coping with their burden.

The conference, which will be held at the French Foreign Ministry headquarters is expected to be followed by a meeting between Suleiman and his French counterpart Francois Hollande.

Diplomatic sources told al-Liwaa newspaper that Paris is seeking to prevent the Syrian conflict from inflicting further deterioration in Lebanon.

The sources expressed fear over the situation in Lebanon.

The support group was inaugurated in New York in September 2013,on the sidelines of the 68th session of the General Assembly. It undertook to work together to mobilize support for the sovereignty and state institutions of Lebanon and to highlight and promote efforts to assist the country where it was most affected by the Syrian crisis, including in respect of strengthening the capacity of the Lebanese Armed Forces, assistance to refugees, and structural and financial support to the government.