Suleiman Holds Talks with World Leaders in New York, Gets $5.6 Million in Russian Aid
President Michel Suleiman met on Wednesday with several world leaders during his visit to New York in the United States.
Suleiman held talks with new Iranian leader Hasan Rowhani at the headquarters of the United Nations in the U.S. state.
LBCI television said the Iranian head of state stressed during the talks that the solution to the Syrian crisis is political.
"Rowhani also hoped to calm the current tension with Saudi Arabia and Bahrain,” the same source added.
Earlier in the day, Suleiman met with his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul and with Qatar's Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani at the headquarters of the Qatari embassy in New York.
During his talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the president was informed that Moscow will grant Lebanon $5.6 million in aid, LBCI reported.
The Russian diplomat also told Suleiman that Lebanon will be invited to take part in the Geneva II summit, “as a country neighboring Syria.”
Meanwhile, MTV said that Lavrov will visit Lebanon soon.
"Suleiman will also meet will U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Thursday to follow up on the issue of military assistance to the Lebanese army,” MTV remarked.
The White House announced on Tuesday that the United States had approved $8.7 million in military assistance focused on increasing the Lebanese Armed Forces’ ability to "monitor, secure, and protect Lebanon’s borders against terrorist threats and the illicit transfer of goods.”
The U.S. also donated more than $74 million to help Lebanon cope with the growing refugee crisis.
over 10 years
FT. Amine Gemayel did not come from private sector. He came from 19th century feudal lebanon. If he was an employee in a firm, he would have rose maximum to middle manager.
Elias Hrawi was chosen to please Syria. Not to fix Lebanon. Again his skills would not have gotten him further than lower supervisory level.
True Fuad Chehab was good in the 50s. Today the world is much more complicated. Would Fuad Chehab have been able to make a fund raising strategy to try to get real money to lebanon?
When I am invoking a CEO, I dont mean an entrepreneur who made money from scratch like mikati or Hariri, as making huge money from scratch in lebanon oftentimes necessitates some shady dealing.- Am sure u agree.
What I am advocating as president is a corporate type who went up the ladder in a corporation, and was rewarded to become CEO by real achievements in the real world.
over 10 years
In my book, those who join the army are those who cant really get employed in the private sector. Promotions are based on flimsy criteria oftentime politized. Hence generals are not necessarily the best men in the army which in the first place was not filled by top notch individuals.
I know some people who are running major lebanese industries, educated in the west, who have had success in their companies and whose way of working and thinking would be perfectly suited to make them presidents.
over 10 years
Ziad Baroud is a lawyer, not a CEO. I am not merely talking private sectors. I am talking CEOs. Baroud is a people person. But he doesnt have the chutzpah of a leader.
Khattar - Nahas. dunno their background.
Georges Frem. YESSS- He made indevco into an international powerhouse. He could have been an option.
Regarding the seminars. I am not diminishing the training officers receive. But such training gets you to be a good officer. Not a leader. You need the training of ENA (Ecole nationale d'administration) to run a country, or of Harvard or Stanford. Getting seminars in Wespoint will not cut it.
over 10 years
I agree to a lot of things that Aoun do. But we both know he is not a skilled statesman. He hits right left and center. He has vision, he hates mafias, and has some good ideas. But he is clumsy politically, His diplomacy skills suck, he cant organize anything, cant organize even his own succesion. (Bassil, despite his lack of charisma, is to take credit for the gas file). Politics aside, despite his cleanliness, he would suck as a president.
over 10 years
5 millions for Russia is nothing.... it's the price of fancy house in St-Pete! What a joke in comparison to what Israel gets every year from everyone, even Russia....
over 10 years
5 million here, 7 million there... That's a drop in the ocean! The Syrian refugees constitute up to up to a quarter of the population and most of them are destitute. Where is the global responsibility? This country is such a basket case that its keeps getting dumped on. First the Palestinians and now then the Syrians. That's what a litany of incompetent governments has brought us.
over 10 years
Actually it's Saudi Arabia who went in Syria first by funding Islamic extremists from abroad who are beheading innocent people and eating out there organs. Those same people are in Lebanon now causing the explosives.
over 10 years
God bless our brave president, I cannot beleive he sat with the president of a terrorist state. May God help the iranian people and give the the courage to kick out their terrorist org known as pasdaran. we will do the same with our terrorists know as hizballa.
over 10 years
During his talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the president was informed that Moscow will grant Lebanon $5.6 million in aid, LBCI reported. ..... u mean 1 million..cause no one wll see this amount of money .....but him and his partners....
No M11, I think Roar has a point. Fund raising is an activity that requires particular skills that Suleiman does not posess. Suleiman is a good homegrown boy trying to do his best.
If he was more astute in the ways of business, he would have prepared himself better, surrounded himself with pros in fundraising and gotten much more.
Unfortunately we choose our presidents from the army. That is a shame. So much skills of the private sector would be much more useful to the country than merely combat and training skills of an officer.
In term of usefulness a general is small fry compared to a CEO of a big company.