Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil began his official visit to the Czech Republic by a meeting with Prime Minister Andrej Babis, in the presence of Minister of State for Foreign Trade Hassan Murad and members of the Lebanese and Czech delegations.
The meeting touched first and foremost on the return of displaced Syrians, where the prime minister expressed his regret over Europe's failure to formulate a unified position on the conflict in Syria and its inability to play an effective role.
Babis expressed his readiness to "contribute to solutions," and wished "Russian-American-European cooperation with the concerned regional countries."
He said he was "convinced of the need to talk to the Syrian government" and said he was "surprised that the displaced are receiving international assistance in the countries they have been displaced to, but will be deprived of if they returned home."
Bassil, in turn, valued the "bold Czech decision to keep its embassy open in Damascus, despite the pressures ans threats to punish it."
"The problem of displaced people is open to serious complications if not resolved by their safe return to their country," Bassil stressed. "They cannot stay in Lebanon, as it will be unable to secure a decent life for them, and therefore they will search for another country of refuge, and Europe will be their first destination in search of work."
Mentioning a potential Russian-Lebanese-Syrian plan, Bassil said "the plan needs development support, so we are working to persuade the United States and the European Union to help, and any small project would give repatriation hope if successfully implemented inside Syria."
Following the meeting with the Prime Minister, Bassil held an extensive meeting with his Czech counterpart, Tomas Petritcek, discussing with him bilateral relations politically and economically and the situation in the region.
The Czech minister told his Lebanese counterpart that "Prague supported the safe return of displaced Syrians to their country as a single solution." He said that his country "provides displaced people annually with assistance equivalent to 12 million US dollars."
After the meeting, the foreign ministers held a press conference on the subject of terrorism, praising thereby "Lebanon's role in fighting terrorism." "We have explained that the Lebanese moderate model is the best model for fighting terrorism," he said.
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