Suleiman, Lebanese Delegation Make Last Minute Preparations for General Assembly Meetings

President Michel Suleiman headed on Sunday a meeting of the Lebanese delegation hours after arriving in New York to attend the U.N. General Assembly sessions and a conference of an international support group for Lebanon.

The state-run National News Agency said the meeting was aimed at making last minute preparations for Suleiman's participation at the General Assembly and a speech he is scheduled to make.

Their talks also focused on the Sept. 25 meeting to help Lebanon confront the Syrian refugee influx, which will be headed by Suleiman and U.N. chief Bank Ki-moon and attended by the foreign ministers of the five permanent Security Council members, the head of the World Bank, in addition to officials from different U.N. agencies such as the UNDP and UNHCR.

Caretaker Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour, who is part of the official delegation, told Voice of Lebanon radio (100.5) that the international community should assume its moral and financial responsibilities towards Lebanon.

“The repercussions of the Syrian crisis on Lebanon are huge,” he said.

The Sept. 25 meeting will be based on an assessment report that the World Bank has prepared.

Spillover from the Syrian war has cost Lebanon billions of dollars, deeply damaged its economy and harshly strained social services such as health, education and electricity, the World Bank has reportedly said in the report.

It estimates that Lebanon will have to spend another $2.5 billion to bring access and quality of public services back to their pre-Syrian conflict level.