Belgian Defense Minister Stresses His Country’s Keenness on Lebanon’s Stability

Visiting Belgian Defense Minister Pieter De Crem stressed on Thursday his country’s support for Lebanon’s efforts to maintain security and develop the demining program.

He said after holding talks with his Lebanese counterpart Fayez Ghosn that Belgium is keen on Lebanon’s stability.

The meeting addressed the ongoing cooperation between the Lebanese army and United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon.

Both sides were in agreement that the cooperation should be bolstered in order to maintain the stability in the South, said a statement issued by the Defense Ministry.

For his part, Ghosn stressed the need to exert more pressure on Israel to force it to halt its daily violations of Lebanon’s sovereignty and implement U.N. Security Council resolution 1701.

De Crem arrived in Lebanon on January 25 on a two-day visit.

He is expected to head to the South to meet with UNIFIL officials.

The Belgian contingent of UNIFIL, which includes a hundred deminers, is in charge of demining, which is a preliminary step to the marking of the “Blue Line”.

Belgium has been contributing to UNIFIL since October 2006