Miqati: I Don’t Follow Anyone’s Agenda

Premier-designate Najib Miqati has stressed that he doesn’t “follow anyone’s agenda” even if Hizbullah and its allies brought him to power.

“I have a friendship with Hizbullah and I also have contacts outside of Lebanon, but it doesn’t mean I follow anyone’s agenda,” Miqati, 55, said in an interview with Bloomberg at his Beirut office.

“My own agenda is going to be followed and that agenda is to maintain very good relations with the international community and Lebanon has to fulfill its commitments,” he said.

“I am keen to maintain very good relations and develop the relationship with the United States,” Miqati said. “If they have any worries, or a preconceived or distorted image, this will be clear soon after forming this government and let them judge based on our performance and actions.”

A source close to former Premier Saad Hariri told Bloomberg that the Mustaqbal movement leader received “assurances” that he had the backing of Miqati when President Michel Suleiman launched consultations with MPs last month to designate a new premier after the collapse of Hariri’s government.

“I came here through a democratic process and I will follow the constitution,” Miqati said in the Jan. 27 interview that was published on Tuesday.

“I don’t want to go into any kind of a confrontation with anybody especially at this difficult time,” he said.

Miqati, who is married with three children, started his frontline political career as public works and transport minister in 1998, and plans to foster “stability, security and prosperity,” he told Bloomberg.

“People are asking about what I will do for the (international) tribunal, but no one is asking about what I will do for the day-to-day living needs of citizens,” the premier-designate added.