The cabinet's meeting

The cabinet held an ordinary meeting yesterday afternoon in the governmental palace. Prime minister Rafik Hariri briefed the ministers about his first meeting with speaker Nabih Berri in Ein-El-Tineh.

He said the cabinet and the parliament will find alternatives to decreasing ministerial expenditures and asked the ministers to cooperate with the finance and budget committee and with the Ministry of Finance to reach a maximum level of reductions in expenses. Hariri had started the session by expressing Lebanon's sorrow for what happened in Egypt at Luxor on Monday.

After the meeting, the cabinet's rapporteur, Bassem El-Sabeh, announced that most of the drafts on the agenda were agreed upon. Among them figures the Kuwaiti loan for building an industrial complex for sugar beets in the Bekaa and the Arabic Funds for Economic Development's loan to finance the Lebanese University's project.