Hariri: Our Duty is to Regain Trust in Lebanon
Prime Minister Saad Hariri stressed on Tuesday that Lebanon needs to regain confidence and for that end it should reactivate the State's institutions and end corruption.
“Our duty is to regain confidence after years of constitutional vacuum, deadlock in institutions, vertical political divide, tension in Arab and international relations and bleakness in economy and investments,” a statement released by Hariri's media office said.
“The election of the president and the formation of the government were the first step on this long road. After that, the government has taken rapid steps towards regaining confidence by adopting vital decrees and postponed decisions, last but not least of which was the adoption of the budget after 12 years of absence, that is 12 years of absence of accountability and transparency,” said Hariri in a speech at the opening of the “Business and Financial forum: Regaining the Trust" at Phoenicia Hotel.
“Regaining the confidence of the citizens also requires the activation of the work of public institutions and administrations by appointing qualified people, and fighting corruption and punishing the corrupt regardless of the political and sectarian considerations. And this requires the activation of control bodies so they perform their duties based on the rule of law and the honest judiciary,” added the Premier.
“We know that the social security of the citizen is an essential parameter for the confidence he has in the state and its institutions. The foundations of social security are the essential services of health, electricity, education, electricity, water and other essential elements of life.”
Turning to the crisis of refugees in Lebanon, Hariri said: “Indeed, the displacement of our brothers fleeing the criminality of the Syrian regime to Lebanon is pressuring the ability of the state to ensure these basic services and doubles the pressure on the infrastructure which is already exhausted.
“Invest in the infrastructure and public services and everyone will benefit: the Lebanese first and then the displaced.”
Shedding light on the latest accomplishments achieved by the State, Hariri said: “The positive shocks, since the election of a president, the formation of the government, the decisions it took, and the achievements of the army, the internal security forces and all the security forces, had a very positive effect on the path towards regaining confidence. This is clear in the improvement of the international community’s opinion of our country, and the fact that the international economic and monetary institutions will improve Lebanon’s economic indicators in the coming period.
“At the same time, the visits of the President to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt, our participation together in the Arab summit and my last visit to Saudi Arabia are all steps toward enhancing confidence with our Arab brothers.”
He concluded: “Soon, we will hold the first meeting of the higher Lebanese-Saudi committee in Riyadh and we are working on several resolutions and agreements that will be announced during this meeting.”
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