Suleiman Returns after 6-Day Visit to Australia
President Michel Suleiman and his accompanying delegation returned to Beirut on Saturday following a six-day official visit to Australia.
In remarks to al-Liwaa daily on Saturday, Suleiman expressed relief at the situation in Lebanon, stressing however “this doesn’t mean we should leave it alone and not take care of it.”
Lebanon “deserves permanent care and keenness by the president, the prime minister, the government, the ministers and Lebanese personalities,” he said.
“Through this care, we could salvage Lebanon against any repercussions,” Suleiman stressed.
During his visit to Australia, Suleiman held talks with Prime Minister Julia Gillard and other senior Australian officials and members of the Lebanese community in several cities.
In remarks carried by the state-run National News Agency, the president said the results of his visit “will appear soon particularly with regard to the return of the Lebanese expatriates to Lebanon.”
“This return is not physical. I haven’t told them to leave Australia for good and return to Lebanon but through their bonds with Lebanon in terms of preserving the land and carrying out investments” in their home country, he told NNA.
Suleiman also told reporters on the eve of his return to Lebanon that the sniper attack on Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea can’t be considered yet an “assassination attempt.”
“Until now, it can only be considered as a shooting and the investigations would reveal if it was an assassination attempt… and I hope it’s not,” he said after Geagea revealed earlier this month that he succeeded in avoiding a sniper attack targeting him at his residence in Maarab.
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