Miqati's 'Positive' Visit to Qatar to Boost Ties with Lebanon
Prime Minister Najib Miqati held positive talks in Doha on Monday as his visit was considered a first step to lift the travel ban issued by the Gulf countries to Lebanon, local newspapers reported.
According to al-Joumhouria newspaper reported on Tuesday, competent ministers from Lebanon and Qatar will hold extraordinary meetings to resume coordination in various issues.
Sources told An Nahar newspaper that Miqati expressed relief upon his return to Lebanon as the talks he held in Doha with senior officials lifted the ban that was exercised against his cabinet since it was formed in 2011 after the government led by ex-PM Saad Hariri was toppled.
The sources revealed that Qatar pledged to contact other Gulf Cooperation Council countries to coordinate lifting the travel warning issued after the security chaos that Lebanon had witnessed recently.
Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and other Gulf states imposed travel restrictions on their citizens, urging them against heading to Lebanon in the wake of a wave of kidnappings of foreign nationals in Lebanon in August.
Miqati headed on Monday to Qatar for a one-day official visit, where he inked six cooperation agreements with his counterpart Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani that had been suspended.
Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani stated that his country is prepared to comply with any suggestion to ease the political and economic situation on Lebanon.
For his part, Miqati announced that the higher Lebanese-Qatari committee will resume its meetings in 2013.
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