Lebanese premier confers with James Baker

Lebanese Prime Minister Salim al-Hoss on Monday received former US Secretary of State James Baker, who is accompanied by the former US ambassador in Damascus, Edward Djerjian, and the US ambassador in Lebanon, David Satterfield.

Following the meeting, Baker said that he discussed with al-Hoss matters relating to the Middle East peace process, the possibility of resuming talks on the Syrian and Lebanese tracks and opportunities for making these talks a success.

Baker expressed his conviction that there is a genuine opportunity to achieve peace on the Syrian and Lebanese tracks in light of the recent Israeli developments and the coming administration in Israel, to be presided over by Ehud Barak. He added that achieving peace is a hard task which requires the existence of political will by all sides, including the political will of the United States.

Baker stressed that his visit to Lebanon is not official. It is rather a friendly visit.