Suleiman to Hold Talks with Obama on Sidelines of U.N. Meeting
A meeting will be held on the sidelines of next week's U.N. General Assembly in New York between President Michel Suleiman and his U.S. counterpart President Barack Obama.
The meeting will address the latest developments in the region and the negative repercussions caused by the Syrian turmoil on Lebanon, informed sources told al-Joumhouria newspaper published on Friday.
According to the daily, Suleiman will also hold talks with French President Francois Hollande and several other official delegations.
The General Assembly will convene from September 23 to 27.
A meeting of the International Group to Support Lebanon at France's initiative will be held on September 25 to help Lebanon cope with the large influx of refugee.
The meeting will include the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, and will be attended by Suleiman.
The U.N. refugee agency UNHCR has registered more than 746,000 Syrians in Lebanon, though many others remain unregistered.
The Lebanese government puts the number of Syrians in the country at 1.3 million, though that figure includes Syrians who were already in the country when the conflict began 30 months ago.
The crisis in Syria has placed enormous strain on Lebanon, politically and economically.
Lebanon has struggled to absorb ever-growing numbers of refugees, who have placed additional burdens on already scare resources including water.
The conflict in Syria has also exacerbated tensions in Lebanon, where Hizbullah backs the Syrian regime, while Lebanon's Sunni support the Sunni-dominated opposition.
The World Bank President, Jim Yong Kim, said earlier this month that the World Bank is helping Lebanon prepare the ground to request an influx of international aid to offset the high costs of the spillover from the Syrian conflict.
Kim told the Associated Press that the Lebanese government asked the World Bank to take the lead in preparing a quick assessment of the social and economic impacts of the war in neighboring Syria, which will be presented during the meeting of the international support group for Lebanon.
Kim said the bank made a "very intensive effort" to finish the assessment in a few weeks, something that normally would take six to nine months.”
The World Bank is already providing aid to Jordan, another Syrian neighbor, to help offset the costs of caring for hundreds of thousands more Syrian refugees. The bank provides loans and other assistance to developing countries with the goal of alleviating poverty.
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