Aoun Discusses Maritime Border Talks with Shea, Kubis

President Michel Aoun held separate meetings with US Ambassador to Lebanon Dorothy Shea, and the UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jan Kubis where talks focused on the indirect maritime demarcation talks between Lebanon and Israel, the National News Agency reported Friday.

The meeting comes one day after the third round of Lebanese-Israeli talks over the demarcation of their maritime border under US and UN auspices.

A joint U.N.-U.S. statement described Wednesday and Thursday’s talks as “productive.”

“Building on progress from their October 14 meeting, on October 28 and 29 representatives from the governments of Israel and Lebanon held productive talks mediated by the United States and hosted by the Office of the United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon (UNSCOL),” the statement said.

“The United States and UNSCOL remain hopeful that these negotiations will lead to a long-awaited resolution. The parties committed to continue negotiations next month,” it added.

The delegations met for around four hours Thursday at a base of the U.N. peacekeeping force UNIFIL in the Lebanese border town of Naqoura.