The Minister for the Middle East, , will attend the Lebanon
Support Conference in Paris tomorrow, Thursday 24
October.
He will continue to push for a ceasefire between Lebanese
Hizballah and Israel, and to create the conditions for a peace
settlement in line with UN Resolution 1701.
The conference, which will be opened by President Macron and
attended by ministers from across Europe, the Middle East and
G20, has three objectives:
- To reiterate the need for a diplomatic solution based on
Resolution 1701 to enable displaced persons' safe return to their
homes.
- To rally the international community to meet the needs in
terms of protection and emergency relief of the Lebanese people,
and identify ways to co-ordinate relief.
- To rally the support of Lebanon's international partners for
its sovereignty by identifying ways to provide additional support
to the Lebanese Armed Forces, both finance and material, so that
they can fully ensure the country's internal stability and
security.
In the Minister's intervention, he will highlight the worsening
situation and risk of further escalation to Lebanon and the wider
region, and repeat the UK's call for an immediate ceasefire so
that civilians on both side of the border can return home. He
will also condemn threats to UNIFIL troops in Lebanon, and malign
activity by Iran and its proxies', which continues to destabilise
the region.
As well as this, the minister will host a number of bilateral
meetings with the US Deputy Secretary of State, Richard R. Verma,
and senior French officials.
The UK has already committed £15m in humanitarian aid to partners
working in the region, including the World Food Programme and
UNICEF.
On top of this, the government has committed £10m in aid match
for the Disasters Emergency Committee's Middle East Humanitarian
Appeal.
