Interim Central Bank Governor Wassim Mansouri has held "promising talks" with Arab and Saudi central banks governors on the sidelines of the Arab Banking Conference in Riyadh, media reports said.

Al-Liwaa newspaper reported Tuesday that Mansouri has asked for Saudi support and for enhancing joint financial investments and that in the coming weeks, financial meetings will take place in Lebanon in order to support the central bank.

Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari has expressed to Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi the kingdom’s “surprise” over his support for Speaker Nabih Berri’s call for dialogue, a media report said on Tuesday.

“This has pushed diplomatic sources to say that the procrastination is expected to continue despite the Qatari attempts to inherit the French role in early October,” ad-Diyar newspaper reported.

Will political blocs engage in dialogue to elect a president before the end of September? While Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri is reportedly cautious yet optimistic, some parties have lauded his initiative and others have rejected it.

The Speaker had called for a seven-day dialogue, following which open presidential election sessions would be held.

Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea on Tuesday called Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi and discussed with him the latest developments in Lebanon, especially the presidential election file, Geagea’s press office said.

The phone talks come a day after al-Rahi met in Diman with Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari.

There is an Arab and international inclination to end the presidential vacuum in Lebanon, especially after Central Bank acting governor Wassim Mansouri said the bank will stop lending the government, highly informed sources said.

“Qatar might be willing to help Lebanon financially and to encourage investment in it if all political forces show leniency and concessions that would contribute to ending the presidential void,” the sources told the PSP’s al-Anbaa news portal in remarks published Tuesday.

UNIFIL spokesman Andrea Tenenti has noted that nothing will change in the work of the U.N. peacekeeping force with the latest renewal of its mandate, adding that partnership with the Lebanese Army will continue.

In an interview with al-Hurra television, Tenenti pointed out that the U.N. resolution that extended the Force’s mandate contains the same wording that was used in 2006.

Saudi Arabia has stressed the need to “finalize the Lebanese presidential juncture as soon as possible so that it contributes to rescuing Lebanon.”

The kingdom’s stance came in a statement issued by the Saudi embassy after talks in Diman between Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari and Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri is “cautiously optimistic” regarding the possibility of holding national dialogue over the presidential file, after the initiative that he launched in his speech on Thursday, sources close to him said.

The sources added, in remarks to al-Joumhouria newspaper, that “despite the rejection of Berri’s initiative by some Christian and political forces, it still can secure success if the Free Patriotic Movement, the majority of Sunni MPs and some of the Change MPs take part in dialogue, knowing that positive signs have been made by these forces as to the speaker’s proposal.”

Saudi Arabia has sent clear signals to its allies that “it is prohibited for Tehran to win in Lebanon,” sources informed on the Saudi stance said.

“The Saudi-Iranian agreement includes Yemen in the first degree and Syria in the second degree and its winds are yet to reach Lebanon,” the sources told the Nidaa al-Watan newspaper in remarks published Monday.

Interim Central Bank Governor Wassim Mansouri reassured Monday that the Central Bank will not finance the Lebanese state, neither in dollar nor in LBP.

"The decision is final," Mansouri said in an interview with al-Arabiyya, stressing that the state must find other ways to finance its budget deficit.