On the meeting between Syrian- Lebanese prime ministers
Syria-Lebanon, Politics, 11/18/2000

The Lebanese prime minister Rafik al-Hariri reiterated that the Syrian presence in Lebanon is " necessary and legitimate and provisional and not lasting for ever." He considered that there is " a Lebanese interest in developing relations at the security and political level and not only at the economic level with Syria."

Al-Hariri statements were made following his meeting with his Syrian counterpart Muhammad Mustafa Miro in Damascus. The Lebanese prime minister minimized the number of Syrian workers in Lebanon to 300,000 while other Lebanese say that these workers toll 1.8 million with the aim " to provoke and to claim the Lebanese economic bottleneck as the making of Syria."

He stressed that his country's relations with Syria ensures "common interests" and explained that " some want to depict this relation as for the interests of Syria. This is not true. Some wants Lebanon to be an island. Lebanon is situated between Syria and Israel. If we close the road to Syria. Where do we go. To the sea or to Israel? We have an interest to developing relations with Syria not only economically but also on the security and political levels."

He continued that the Israeli threats against Lebanon are not new, rather continuous since 1948. "Nobody can prevent one state from making an aggression against another. But there is a UN security council, a public opinion and UN, Greater states and self- force for every state, things which are all together halt the aggression," noting that " Israel knows that the Shebaa farms are occupied territories."

However, al-Hariri and Miro agreed immediately to " start to qualify the Syrian- Iraqi oil pipelines, and Damascus agreed to " hurry up" to issue a decision on joint and private banks in Syria in the framework of implementing all economic agreements signed between the two sides. This was expressed in a joint statement issued by the meetings of the Syrian- Lebanese joint higher committee.

The statement also stated to strengthen economic relations between the two states. The statement also stated " rapid legal and executive measures to install the gas line between Homs in Syria and Tripoli in Lebanon as well as to qualify the oil line between Tripoli and Homs."

Previous Stories:
  Hariri visits Damascus on Friday, Obeid on Saturday   (11/16/2000)
  Berri denies mediation between Jumblat and the Syrian leadership   (11/14/2000)
  Jumblat says Syrian presence is OK   (11/14/2000)
  Syria allows Lebanese to transport cargos to Baghdad fair   (9/29/2000)
  Syrian - Lebanese symposium on informatics   (4/18/2000)
  Bashar al-Assad participates in Lebanese - Syrian symposium on developing the Internet   (4/10/2000)

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