Jumblat Says Set of Reforms Needed for ISG to Succeed

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat on Friday said the meeting of the International Support Group for Lebanon is an important gesture that requires the introduction of reforms in order to make it “successful.”

“The Paris conference to support Lebanon is extremely important, but to make it succeed we need reforms, we need to stop the squandering (of public funds) and end deficit,” Jumblat said in a tweet.

The MP made the comments as world leaders prepare to meet in Paris on Friday with Prime Minister Saad Hariri.

French President Emmanuel Macron, who helped Hariri resolve the crisis sparked by his shock resignation announced from Riyadh last month and rescinded this week, will kick off the talks.

The French foreign ministry said the meeting would aim to support the political process in Lebanon at a crucial moment, and will send a message both to the various parties in Lebanon and to countries in the region.

The International Support Group for Lebanon, which will meet in Paris Friday, was launched in September 2013 partly in response to the massive influx of refugees from the conflict in neighboring Syria.

Turning to Lebanon's longtime waste management crisis, Jumblat added: “Let the management of the country's trash be a priority rather than burying it in the sea or scattering it in the prairies, as most of the municipalities are doing.

“Finally, do not forget the Litani river and its deadly pollution,” he emphasized.