Speaker Nabih Berri hoped on Wednesday that efforts will be speeded up in petroleum excavation in order for Lebanon to move on to the drilling phase.

He said during his weekly meeting with MPs at Ain al-Tineh: “The sooner we begin the excavation, the sooner we begin to seriously tackling the country’s economic and financial problems.”

The Beirut MPs stressed on Wednesday that establishing an arms-free capital does not only include administrative area of the city, but Greater Beirut.

It said after a meeting at parliament: “After holding talks with the president, premier, and speaker over an arms-free capital, it is now time to hold talks with the various political powers.”

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and the former head of the Arab League, Amr Moussa, are among the high-level dignitaries who would attend a U.N. conference on democracy in the Arab world over the weekend, al-Liwaa daily reported.

The newspaper said Wednesday that Davutoglu and Moussa will address the "Reform and Transitions to Democracy" conference which will also see U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon as a keynote speaker.

Cabinet ministers engaged in a long debate on Tuesday over public spending amid a report that spending based on the 2005 budget was not enough in paying the salaries of civil servants.

A $5.9 billion 2011 spending bill hasn’t been approved by the parliament yet. But if approved, it would legalize spending by the government above 2005 levels.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea criticized on Tuesday Syrian President Bashar Assad’s speech earlier in the day, saying that he addressed everything but the country’s crisis.

He said before reporters in Maarab: “Assad depicted a status quo that has nothing to do with the reality on the ground.”

Lebanese officials are seeking to coordinate their stances ahead of U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon’s visit to Beirut on Friday to avoid tarnishing Lebanon’s image, informed sources said.

The sources told An Nahar daily on Tuesday that consultations are underway between major political forces led by Hizbullah to agree on the broad Lebanese stance on several controversial issues that could be discussed by Ban and the Lebanese officials.

Contacts are ongoing between Prime Minister Najib Miqati, Speaker Nabih Berri and Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun to resolve the controversial issue of the wage boost, An Nahar newspaper reported on Monday.

As Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas is waiting for the Shura Council’s verdict on his new proposed wage hike plan, sources told the daily that Miqati, Berri and Aoun were holding contacts aimed at reaching a political consensus over the issue.

President Michel Suleiman is intensifying his efforts to resume the national dialogue in order to tackle a defense strategy for Lebanon and implement the decisions that were reached on the Resistance and Palestinians’ possession of arms, reported the Kuwaiti al-Anbaa newspaper on Saturday.

His calls for dialogue have so far been ignored by the rival March 8 and 14 camps over each side’s preconditions to hold the talks, seeing as the former refuses to discuss the Resistance’s possession of weapons, while the latter insists that it should be the sole topic of discussion.

Speaker Nabih Berri voiced his support for President Michel Suleiman’s statements on the appointments of top civil servants.

He told the daily An Nahar in remarks published on Friday that it would be difficult to make them in one haul as the president had feared.

Speaker Nabih Berri and Energy Minister Jebran Bassil expressed relief on Thursday after the cabinet approved the oil exploration decrees, according to As Safir newspaper.

“Congratulations to Lebanon… We’ve reached the stage of implementing the work, and we should exert efforts to compensate for lost time,” Berri told the daily.