Hollande Meets Aoun, Jumblat

President Michel Aoun received on Thursday the former French President Francois Hollande who plans to make a series of meetings with Lebanese officials to discuss the economic aid for Lebanon agreed at the CEDRE support conference last year.

Hollande had arrived Wednesday in Beirut and met with Prime Minister Saad Hariri who threw a banquet in his honor.

Discussions between the two touched on the situation in Lebanon, Hariri's media office had said.

Later on Thursday, Hollande visited the Progressive Socialist Party leader ex-MP Walid Jumblat in al-Mukhtara. Jumblat threw a banquet in Hollande's honor.

In a welcoming speech, Jumblat said the Syrian regime refused to acknowledge the rights of the Syrian people and that Hollande was the only president who supported their uprising.

“You were the only president who supported the uprising of the Syrian people and the uprising of the Lebanese,” in reference to the March 14 uprising that ousted the Syrian army from Lebanon.

For his part, Hollande said: “You represent a model to the world because you have succeeded in establishing security and unity.”