Berri: World Embraced Lebanon at CEDRE Conference

The world “embraced Lebanon” at the CEDRE economic meeting, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has said.

“Through France's hosting of the CEDRE conference and the presence of the participating countries, the world embraced Lebanon,” Berri told al-Hayat newspaper in remarks published Sunday.

“Implementation is now the responsibility of the Lebanese,” the Speaker added.

“Prime Minister Saad Hariri's remarks on Friday on the importance of our cooperation and the role of political accord in reaching the plan that was presented to the conference indicate that we can reach the required results,” Berri went on to say, adding that he endorses Hariri's statement.

International donors pledged $11 billion in low-interest loans and aid for Lebanon at the CEDRE conference to try to avert an economic crisis in a country hard hit by the fallout from the Syrian war.

Lebanon's growth has plummeted due to political instability, with the effect compounded by the Syrian conflict which has sent a million refugees across the border -- equivalent to a quarter of the Lebanese population before the conflict.

Some 40 countries sent representatives to the conference in Paris along with officials from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund where an aid package, made up 90 percent of low-interest loans, was agreed.

Praising the "exceptional generosity of the Lebanese people" with regard to Syrian refugees French President Emmanuel Macron said the world needed to show "full solidarity" with Lebanon.