After premier-designate Saad Hariri abandoned up trying to build a government, French President Emmanuel Macron will host a new international conference on Lebanon next month on the one-year anniversary of the Beirut port explosion, the foreign ministry announced Friday.
Macron will host the summit on August 4 with the assistance of the UN, “to respond to the needs of the Lebanese whose position is deteriorating every day,” according to a statement.
On Friday, Lebanese Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri said that he had given up trying to build a cabinet, adding to a long-running political gridlock. Since quitting in the aftermath of the port explosion on August 4, 2020, Prime Minister Hassan Diab has been serving in a caretaker capacity, with squabbling sectarian parties unable to agree on a new cabinet.
The event will be organized with the cooperation of the United Nations, according to the French foreign ministry, to “respond to the needs of the Lebanese whose position is deteriorating every day.”
