Beirut, October 27, 2022 (Xinhua) Lebanese President Michel Aoun said Thursday, according to the official National News Agency, that “the completion of the southern maritime border demarcation dossier is a technical work that has no political dimensions or effects. which contradict Lebanon’s foreign policy in its relations with countries ”.
This came, according to the agency, after Aoun signed a letter approving his country of the contents of the American message on the results of indirect negotiations to delimit the southern maritime border with Israel.
The signing took place during Aoun’s meeting with the American mediator in the indirect negotiations to delimit the maritime border between Lebanon and Israel, Amos Hochstein, which was attended by the vice president of the Lebanese parliament Elias Bou Saab, the foreign minister Abdullah Bouhabib and members of the negotiating delegation with the American side.
Bou Saab said in a joint press conference with Hochstein that the latter handed over to President Aoun the text of the official agreement to delimit maritime borders.
He explained that President Aoun signed a letter stating that Lebanon received the American message and consented to its content, and instructed a delegation to deliver the message to Hochstein at United Nations forces headquarters in Southern Lebanon (UNIFIL) in Naqoura.
Bou Saab indicated that President Aoun has instructed a delegation on his behalf to travel to Naqoura (which witnessed the first indirect negotiations) and deliver the Lebanese message.
The delegation includes the Director General of the Presidency of the Republic, Antoine Choucair, the UNIFIL Government Commissioner, Brigadier General Mounir Shehadeh, a member of the Oil Management Authority, Wissam Shabat, and the head of the legal advice Ahmed Arafa.
Bou Saab made it clear that there will be a second letter from the Lebanese Foreign Ministry to the United Nations.
In turn, Hochstein felt that the agreement to demarcate the maritime borders between Lebanon and Israel will be a turning point for the Lebanese economy and that there are no clauses in the demarcation agreement that would delay Lebanon’s energy exploration in the its waters.
“We are experiencing a historic day after reaching an agreement that would provide stability on both sides of the border,” he said.
He believed that “signing the agreement would bring stability to the region”.
Hochstein confirmed, after two separate meetings with the heads of parliament and government, Nabih Berri and Najib Mikati, that “reaching an agreement will be very important for the Lebanese people and the economy”.
On the question of whether the results of the Israeli elections affect the course of the agreement, he said: “These elections are not the first and last. The agreement is between two governments and is binding on them and will remain regardless of subsequent and subsequent elections. governments. I’m not worried about the implementation of this agreement. “
He added, “regardless of the results of the elections and who will be the next president of Lebanon”, underlining that “the agreement is safe and secure and must be implemented by all parties”.
“The two governments are individually and separately committed to implementing this arrangement,” he added.
The official of the media office of the Presidency of the Republic, Rafik Shalala, had made it clear in a statement to reporters that “the task of the Lebanese delegation in Naqoura is to convey the Lebanese message, and there are no negotiations, and the Lebanese delegation will not meet never the Israeli delegation “.
Lebanon and Israel announced, in early October, the approval of a final version of a US bid for an agreement to delimit their maritime borders, after the two countries engaged in two-year indirect negotiations, mediated by the United States. and under the auspices of the United Nations, beyond the demarcation of the border in an area believed to contain oil resources in the Mediterranean, with an area of 860 square kilometers. .
