Williams Meets Aoun: Lebanon Will Benefit from Reform in Syria, Arab World

U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Michael Williams voiced on Wednesday his satisfaction that parliament will tackle on Thursday the electricity draft law, hoping that it would lead to addressing other important issues.

He said after a farewell visit to Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun: “I hope that parliament can go forward with future reforms.”

“I also want to express my thanks to Aoun for meeting with me many times over the past three years. Sadly I will be leaving Lebanon soon but I want to declare that he has always received me with great courtesy,” he added.

“We have discussed difficult questions and issues about Lebanon and about the region and every time we have had a very profound and useful exchange of views,” Williams stated.

On the situation in Syria, he remarked: “I hope that there can be an end to violence very soon. We both recognized the need for reforms, I think profound reforms, to stabilize the situation in Syria but also in the wider region.”

“I leave Lebanon with real sadness. I think that there is a great resilience in Lebanon, a great strength, with the people,” he noted.

“There are many differences but this is normal in your political life. And in the past three years there have been great problems, but I have seen a recognition by all political forces that these must be tackled in a cooperative manner,” Williams said.

“I think the future for Lebanon is a very good future. Hopefully you will find many natural resources, for example oil and gas, in the Mediterranean,” he stated.

“I also believe that if there is progress in the Arab world, including Syria, in the direction of reform this will only benefit Lebanon. So I wish Lebanon every success in the future,” concluded the U.N. official.